The NFL trade deadline has come and gone, and save the Patriots shipping Jamie Collins to Cleveland, not much happened. Things were decidedly more exciting nine and a half years ago when New England swung a deal for Randy Moss, who had just wrapped up a disappointing season with the Raiders where he managed 42 catches for 553 yards and three touchdowns.

But Bill Belichick knew that he needed to upgrade the Pats' receivers corps and he clearly thought that Moss could do that in a hurry. From Moss' perspective, it all sounded too good to be true. Here's how the ESPN analyst and former wide receiver explained how things went down:

"I got a phone call and it was Bill Belichick," Moss told ESPN.com recently. "I thought it was a friend or somebody playing with my phone. I actually cussed him out. When he kept saying it was Bill Belichick, I knew he was serious. I started being apologetic because I had cussed the man. Then he told me the Raiders were thinking about trading me. I had to be in Foxborough by 10 p.m. Eastern, or the trade would void. So, I just did everything that I could possibly do to get up there by 10 p.m.

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Randy Moss says he thought it was a prank when Bill Belichick called. USATSI

"After I got off the phone with him, I was excited. I was hyped. I was in a club that night. Defensive tackle Shaun Rogers, who played for the Detroit Lions at the time, was there, so I went up there, high-fiving him, hugging random people. Shaun asked me what was going on and I said to him, 'I'm getting ready to be a Patriot.' The first thing that came out of his mouth was, 'Man, that's cheatin'.'

Of course, Moss made it to New England and had little trouble adjusting to the league's most explosive offense. He had 98 catches for 1,493 yards and 23 touchdowns in his first season. He had two more 1,000-plus-yard seasons in 2008 and 2009 before Belichick traded him to the Vikings -- for a third-rounder, mind you -- midway through the 2010 season.

Moss' only regret?

"Having an undefeated season, doing so many great things, then, when the game counted for us to really bring it home in the Super Bowl, we couldn't bring it home."