If I told you there was a receiver still on the market who was sixth all-time in receptions and third all-time in receiving yards and touchdowns, wouldn’t you want him on your team?
The easy answer is of course you would. That kind of talent only comes around once a generation. But, for some inexplicable reason, teams simply are not interested in Terrell Owens.
The first conclusion everyone jumps to is that he’s asking for too much money and that his production no longer warrants the $5 million salary he’s seeking. However, playing on a run-first offense that went through three different (unspectacular) quarterbacks, he was still able to haul in 55 receptions for over 800 yards and five touchdowns.
Those numbers probably aren’t worth $5 million, but when we take into consideration the talent, or lack thereof, that was surrounding him, those numbers are fairly impressive.
Then there’s his age. Owens will be 37 next season and is obviously in the tail-end of his career. He’s not going to play like he’s 24, but he’s also not asking to get paid like he’s 24. Not only that, but Owens is in great shape and could probably play for another five years, even though he’s willing to accept a one-year deal as he did in Buffalo.
And no, five years isn’t out of the question. Jerry Rice played until he was 42 years old and was incredibly productive up until he was 40 years old during a season in which he caught 92 balls for 1,200 yards and seven touchdowns. T.O., over the course of his career, has kept himself in perhaps even better shape than Rice did.
And then, of course, there’s the argument that he’s simply too much baggage for a team to handle. It’s an argument that has been made over and over, but it simply doesn’t hold water.
Owens is a bit of a loud-mouth (to put it midly), and he has been known to be a polarizing figure in a locker room. But he’s never been in trouble with the law and is a stand-up citizen off the football field. Any community he’s been a part of, whether it be in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Dallas, or most recently in Buffalo, has loved him as a person.
So if guys like Ben Roethlisberger, Pacman Jones, Matt Jones, Shaun Rogers, Joey Porter, Leroy Hill, and others are all given their opportunity to play despite several run-ins with the law, a guy like T.O. should certainly be given another chance — especially since he’s more talented than anyone on that list.
T.O. will probably get a call before training camp is set to start, but he already has a huge chip on his shoulder and is looking to show the league he can still play. Any team smart enough to step up the plate will be a getting a future Hall-of-Famer playing with a fire underneath him, and will get a huge value for their money.