Moss to be waived by the Vikings

Michael Lombardi of the NFL Network first reported that Moss had been waived, but later amended his report to note that coach Brad Childress, who has final say on the 53-man roster, informed Vikings players that the enigmatic receiver was being let go, but did not tell the front office.

"[He said he] just wanted to give everybody a heads-up and say this is what's going on, and that's it," Vikings linebacker Ben Leber told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune "He didn't really dive into any details, and just said that's what we're going to go with."

Moss's agent, Joel Segal, confirmed to the Star Tribune via e-mail that Moss, who remained behind in Boston yesterday to visit family, was "very sad" to find out about being waived.

"He has and always will remain fond of the fans in Minnesota. We will let the process of the waiver wire take its course and we will move on from there."

Any team that claims Moss would be responsible for the remainder of his $6.4 million. Segal told the Star Tribune that he has already heard from the Dolphins and Seahawks about his client.

While Moss has been made aware of his situation according to Segal, his status is uncertain until the Vikings officially place him on waivers. His name did not appear on the waiver wire released by the league this afternoon, according to Fox Sports's Jay Glaser.

Once Moss is officially waived, teams will have the chance to claim him over the next 24 hours. If you think the Patriots would be on that list of interested teams, they would have to wait awhile. Thirty other teams would have to pass on Moss before the Patriots would have a chance to bring him back to New England. The team with the worst record, Buffalo, would have the first chance to claim him.

Patriots receiver Wes Welker had a common reaction to the news that his former teammate was being let go after less than a month with his former team.

"Yeah, absolutely," Welker said in the Patriots' locker room when asked if he was surprised to hear the news. "Randy is obviously a great player so that’s a tough deal if it is true. Who knows? But I find that hard to believe."

Asked if he'd be open to Moss returning to the Patriots, Welker said: "You know that’s all Coach (Bill) Belichick’s decision. So whatever he decides we’re open to as a team and I’m sure he’ll do what’s best for the organization."

Welker wouldn't say whether there was any relief in the locker room after Moss was traded.

"I wouldn’t attribute it to Randy or anything like that," Welker said. "We’ve got a lot of guys coming in and working hard and doing their job and young guys getting better every week. It’s paying off for us, we just need to keep it going."

While the Patriots are 6-1 -- and 3-0 since trading Moss -- the talented Vikings are free-falling, dropping to 2-5 after yesterday's 28-18 loss at Gillette Stadium.

Moss didn't help matters when, in a postgame press conference, he praised the Patriots and Belichick while suggesting the Vikings coaching staff didn't utilize his advice on the Patriots' schemes.

"The bad part about it is you have six days to prepare for a team, and on the seventh day, that Sunday, meaning today, I guess they come over and say, 'Dag, Moss, I guess you was right about a couple plays and a couple schemes they were going to run,'" he said.

"And it hurts as a player, that you put a lot of hard work in during the week, and at the end of the week, Sunday, when you get on the field, that's when they acknowledge about the hard work that you put in throughout the week. That's actually a disappointment."

Shalise Manza Young, Greg A. Bedard, and Chad Finn of the Globe staff contributed to this report.