Terrell Owens has not appeared in a regular season NFL game since he was with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010. All indications are that Owens is still in fairly good shape for a 39-year-old receiver, but three years away from real NFL game action is a very long time. Despite the layoff, TO still thinks he can help a team.
“I’m not chasing a dream,” Owens told Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com on Friday. “I can still play football. If you’re a team looking for a wide receiver and don’t think I can play, tell me why. If it’s because you don’t like me, then that’s fine, but don’t tell me I can’t still play.”
There have been a number of teams who feel Owens cannot contribute at the NFL level anymore, the most recent of which was the Seattle Seahawks. Owens played for Seattle in the preseason last year but was not kept on board for the regular season. If that happens again this year, he says he will call it quits.
“If I play this year, that’d be awesome,” Owens said. “If I don’t play this year, I’m retiring. That’s just me being realistic. I want to play again. I want to go out on top with a team. I think I can still play, but if I don’t sign with a team, it would be time to retire. I have to be honest with myself.”
If teams don’t want to sign Owens for football reasons, he’s fine with that. However, it clearly bothers him that people still reference character issues when discussing his future.
“I’ve proven myself, and I can’t get a pass when I haven’t done anything off the field,” he said. “There are guys who get second and third chances for stuff they do off the field. I would say to these teams that I’m not the same guy I was five years ago. I’ve matured a lot.”
TO caught passes from Tom Brady earlier in the offseason, sparking rumors that the New England Patriots may be interested in him. The likelihood of Owens landing with the Patriots or any other NFL team is not very good at this point. I don’t know if it’s the age or the history of being a distraction, but my guess is its a combination of the two. He’s simply not worth taking a chance on.
