Jerry Rice is undeniably the best wide receiver to ever, but the former 49ers great doesn’t think he should have been.

Rice told ESPN Radio on Tuesday morning that he thought the recently retired Randy Moss could have taken the title away from him simply because he had more talent than Rice. (Quotes come courtesy NBCSports.com’s Pro Football Talk.)

“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.”

Earlier Rice admitted that he took Moss’s laziness personally and felt afflicted by the star receiver’s unwillingness to live up to his potential.

“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.”

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