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Jerry Rice is widely regarded as the best wide receiver ever to play the game, but he says he wasn’t the most talented. Randy Moss, Rice says, was more talented.

And Rice doesn’t mean that as a compliment.

On ESPN Radio this morning, Rice said he always had a hard time watching Moss because Rice hated to see a player so naturally gifted not making the most of those gifts.

“It was hard for me to swallow because I was not as talented and I had to work harder,” Rice said. “To see a guy with that much talent not give it 100 percent, it was almost like a little slap in the face. But Randy was Randy.”

Rice said he wonders what kind of player Moss would have been with a better work ethic.

“He could have been one of the greatest if he had worked just a little bit harder,” Rice said. “I don’t think he wanted to give it 100 percent. You never knew what you were going to get with Randy. Sometimes you’d get the unbelievable guy, the amazing guy. Other times you’d get the guy that took a couple plays off.”

In Rice’s view, the unbelievable, amazing guy didn’t show up to work often enough.