Long-overdue tribute coming as Commanders honor star WR (and not before time)

A few weeks after announcing that franchise-leading wide receiver Art Monk would have his jersey retired during the 2025 season, the Washington Commanders are honoring another of their greatest pass-catchers.

Santana Moss, author of the Monday Night Miracle, will be inducted into the team’s Ring of Fame when the Commanders take on the New York Giants in Week 1 of the upcoming campaign.

Moss’s bona fides are undeniable. After 10 seasons in Washington, the former University of Miami standout retired ranked third in franchise history in total receptions, trailing Pro Football Hall of Famers Monk and Charley Taylor. He is still fourth in total receiving yards and seventh in receiving touchdowns.

With a catch percentage that approached 60 percent, Moss was the rare wideout who was both a possession receiver and a big-play threat.

Washington didn’t have a lot of bright spots over the past 25 seasons, but Moss played a major role in many of them. He arrived during Joe Gibbs' second era, which marked the last time the team won a playoff game before 2024. He called it a day a few years after the brief franchise resurgence in quarterback Robert Griffin III’s rookie campaign.

No one had a better introduction to the Washington fan base than Santana Moss

When kicker Austin Seibert shocked the world last season with seven field goals in his first game with the Commanders, it had a lot of older fans recalling Moss in 2005.

Moss had recently been acquired in a trade with the New York Jets. The teams swapped two young receivers on the rise. Washington traded 2003 Pro Bowler Laveranues Coles for Moss. He was their leading receiver. He had caught 90 balls in 2004. But Gibbs wanted more big-play potential.

The new acquisition began proving how wise the move was in just his second game.

Washington went into the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football after eking out a 9-7 win in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears. The defense was great. The offense was a huge question mark.

With just under five minutes left, the Commanders still hadn’t scored a touchdown. They trailed 13-0. Washington had not won in Dallas in a decade, and it looked like another dismal outing. But they refused to give up.

Mark Brunell had already converted one fourth down on a late drive when he faced a do-or-die 4th-and-15 from the Dallas 29-yard line. His newest receiver, Moss, ran a post-corner-post against double coverage. Fortunately, the safety was Roy Williams, known as one of the best in the league when playing near the line of scrimmage, but a true liability in coverage. The signal-caller hit the wideout in the end to cut the lead to 13-7.

Washington got the ball back with just under three minutes remaining. This time, Moss ran a straight post, but knowing that Williams didn’t like backpedaling, he cheated the route toward the safety and away from cornerback (and current Jets’ head coach) Aaron Glenn. Once again, Brunell was perfect. This time, the receiver hauled in a 70-yard touchdown pass.

It was his first game in the storied rivalry, and Moss snatched victory from a stunned Cowboys squad.

That was only the beginning. At the end of the season, with the playoffs on the line, Moss caught touchdown passes of 17, 59, and 72 yards, helping his team to a crucial win over the division-leading New York Giants. He was awarded his second NFC Offensive Player of the Week Award for 2005.

Moss would have plenty of other great moments for Washington during his career. In 2006, he turned in another three-touchdown performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The final one was a 68-yarder from Brunell that won the game in overtime.

Many years later, in 2012, the 33-year-old was still making the big plays that brought him to Washington. In the third quarter of a game against the Philadelphia Eagles, a scrambling Griffin heaved the ball as far as he could downfield, where Moss outdueled two defenders for the catch, tumbling backwards into the end zone for yet another huge moment.

By that point, the team was beginning to move on from its best receiver of the early 2000s. Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan were assuming major roles on the outside. But fans learned early on that when the chips were down, Moss would be out there fighting.

And often winning.

Now he will be recognized in the club’s Ring of Fame, along with the greatest receivers in franchise history. Monk, Taylor, Bobby Mitchell, and Wayne Millner are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Gary Clark is amongst the most beloved players in team history, with Hall of Fame numbers of his own.

Moss’s inclusion with them is well-deserved.