Terrell Owens worked out at Calabasas High School (Ca.) Tuesday in front of several media members, but from the looks of things, no NFL team representatives. LBS attended the workout and got an up-close look at the 37-year-old who is looking to return from knee surgery.
The most glaring issue for T.O. was his conditioning. Though his upper body was as muscular and chiseled as ever (agent Drew Rosenhaus even told him to take off his shirt to show off his muscles), he had his hands on his hips after running routes, and he was clearly winded throughout the workout. He ran routes with two other receivers, so he had plenty of time to recover after each route. He had much more time to recover between routes than he would during a game, but he was still tired after most plays.
Towards the end of the workout, T.O. said to another player on the field “Hell yeah I’m tired. How long we been out here?”
Owens admitted after the workout that he was winded, but he says it’s because the workout was expedited for live television.
Though his routes were fine, Owens didn’t run especially fast. He was not quick accelerating out of his cuts, but they were crisp, not loose. He caught all but three passes — two were poorly thrown balls by former Norfolk State quarterback Casey Hansen on deep outs — and the third was a ball thrown behind Owens on an out-and-up route designed to find an opening in the cover-two defense. That pass hit his hands, but it was supposed to be high and away instead of low and behind him.
T.O. seemed to be at his best working the middle of the field rather than the sidelines.
If you ask him, everything went well.
“Honestly, I probably feel better than before I got injured,” said Owens after his workout.
If T.O. is to sign with a team, he would have to rely on his strength to break free from cornerbacks, and his ability to find holes in the defense to get open. That’s something he was able to do as recently as last season for the Bengals.
Neither T.O. nor agent Drew Rosenhaus seemed worried that there weren’t NFL teams in attendance. As Owens said, the last two years he was told there wasn’t going to be interest, but he ended up signed (by Buffalo in ’09 and Cincinnati in ’10).
“All it takes is one team,” seems to be the mantra of the wide receiver.
Here is a video from Terrell Owens’ workout, along with him answering questions from the media afterwards:
