‘Package deal’

Brady calls for Patriots to re-sign Moss

NFL. To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart, is it the start of a beautiful friendship? Or will it be just another short-term romance?

Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss, who broke the NFL record with 23 touchdown catches this season, signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with New England at the start of the year as part of his trade from Oakland in April. While with the Patriots, he’s managed to rehabilitate a once-shabby public image, going from malcontent to model teammate in 10 short months.

But will Moss’ extreme makeover continue into the 2008 season? Tom Brady certainly hopes so. He made his case for the Patriots to re-sign the 30-year-old wide receiver earlier this week, throwing down a tongue-in-cheek gauntlet to the New England front office.

“Randy and I are a package deal. I don’t want Randy going anywhere,” Brady said with a wide smile. “I’m going where Randy’s going. If he goes, I go. I’d like to play with him for as long as he wants to continue playing.”

Because of a technicality in the collective bargaining agreement, the Patriots reportedly cannot re-sign Moss until the start of the free agency period in March. That means if a deal doesn’t get done, he could hit the open market — unless the Patriots choose to franchise him, which would mean an approximate payday of $7.8 million.

For his part, Moss certainly sounded like a guy who is interested in returning to New England, even saying he’d be interested in retiring as a Patriot.

“Being here, being a New England Patriot, I think this is where I do want to be,” Moss said. “Hopefully, we can work something out after this season is over. The sky is the limit. I really don’t know if I’m going to be a New England Patriot, but to answer your question, I would love to retire a Patriot, yes.”