Chris Townsend

And Terrell Owens gets cut again… and signed again

Terrell Owens is now a Buffalo Bill, but before he could be a Bill he fist had to be cut, again, this time from Dallas. Maybe the issue is not T.O. but everyone else.  Perhaps Owens truly is the victim he thinks he is.  Let’s look at this from T.O.’s point of view. 

Terrell Owens was born in 1973 to Marilyn Heard and L.C. Russell in Alexander City, Alabama.  Raised by his mother and grandmother, young T.O. grew up with three other siblings and enjoyed watching football, especially his favorite player, Jerry Rice (we will get to Mr. Rice later). 

T.O. attended Benjamin Russell High School, where he was a three sport star, excelling in football, baseball and basketball. Big time college programs failed to recognize T.O.’s raw talent, however, forcing him to enroll at the University of Tennessee’s lowly Chattanooga campus. Playing football at UTC, Owens wore number 80 on his jersey to honor his idol, Jerry Rice.  Not given the playing time as a freshman he so rightfully deserved, T.O. managed to break through to become a starter during his sophomore year, catching 38 passes for 724 yards and eight touchdowns. As a junior he caught 34 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns and, by the time he was a senior, T.O. found himself facing double coverage every week. He was limited to 43 receptions for 666 yards and one touchdown his final year, yet still managed to set the school’s single season reception record, a record that held for over ten years until it was broken in 2007.

Despite his size, speed, and proven ability, T.O. was not drafted until the third round of the 1996 draft by the San Francisco 49ers.  Why every team passed on him until the third round is still a mystery. To add insult to injury, T.O. would play his first pro game not as a starter but as a member of the 49ers special teams. How is it possible that J.J. Stokes started as a rookie at wide receiver while Terrell Owens played only on special teams? 

In 1997, Owens’ second year, Jerry Rice went down early in the season with a torn ACL. T.O. stepped up to carry quarterback Steve Young and the 49ers to a 13 win season and a playoff berth.  When the 49ers lost the 1997 NFC Championship to the Green Bay Packer 28 to 10, no one took the loss harder than T.O. He got his big pay back in 1998, almost single handedly carrying the 49ers to a wild-card playoff win over the Packers, even catching the game winning touchdown.  

Fast forward to December 17, 2000 and T.O. breaks a 50 year old record for the most receptions in a single game with 20 catches for 283 yards and a touchdown. It should have been one of his happiest days. But the 49ers and Jerry Rice pulled the rug out from under him with the same day announcement that the beloved Rice would be leaving the franchise.

How could Jerry do this to T.O?  How could Owens’ hero, the player whose number he wore in college, his mentor on the 49ers, snatch this his greatest day from T.O.’s grasp with an announcement:  the great Jerry Rice would leave the 49ers?  T.O. had done everything he could to be a team player, but it seemed nothing he did was right. So in 2003, with a heavy heart, T.O. announced that he would leave the team he loved. 

The 49ers, however, had different ideas. The team asserted that T.O.’s previous agent, David Joseph, had missed the deadline to void the final years of his contract with the 49ers. The NFLPA and T.O. disputed this assertion, contending that the 49ers alleged deadline was bogus. On March 4, 2004, San Francisco, attempted to trade him to the Baltimore Ravens for a second round pick in the 2004 draft.  Owens challenged the 49ers' right to make the deal; he could not believe that after all he had done for the team they would not honor his contract. Besides, he fully believed that as of March 3, he was a free agent. In fact, T.O. had already reached a contract agreement with the Philadelphia Eagles, whose fan base strongly supported his desire and effort to play for their team.

The NFL Players Union filed a grievance on Owens’ behalf, but before an arbitrator could rule on the grievance, the NFL and the three teams involved in the controversy reached a settlement. The Ravens got their second-round pick back from the 49ers. The 49ers received a conditional fifth-round pick and defensive end Brandon Whiting from the Eagles in exchange for the rights to Owens' contract. T.O.’s deal with the Eagles was reported to be worth $49 million for seven years, including a $10 million signing bonus. 

The Eagles’ 2004 season got off to a great start with the team winning their first 7 games and 13 of their first 14.  A large part of their success… the play of Terrell Owens who averaged a touchdown catch per game. Then, on December 19, 2004, Owens sustained a severely sprained ankle and a fractured fibula. With the Eagles eyeing the Super Bowl, T.O. shocked the media by announcing he would play in the Super Bowl even though team doctors stated that his injury would take several more weeks to heal. It should have surprised no one. That is the type of person T.O. is: team and winning first. His tremendous work ethic and team-first attitude silenced the skeptics. Not only did Owens start the game, he finished with 9 receptions for 122 yards and 13.5 yards per catch. The Eagles lost, but through no fault of T.O’s.  

Often misunderstood by his teammates and the media, T.O. would play only one season for the Eagles.  A misinterpreted Owens comment about how he wasn’t the player who was tired during the Super Bowl led to an invitation to leave the team. All he had done was take the Eagles to the Super Bowl and come back early from an injury to give them a chance for a championship.  Again, he had done all he could and the Eagles have not made it back to the Super Bowl since T.O. left.

On March 18, 2006 T.O. became a Dallas Cowboy and, his first season with the team, led the league with 13 touchdown receptions. During the 2007 season he notched 81 receptions for 1355 yards and 15 touchdowns.  But it seemed nothing T.O. did was ever good enough for the Cowboys.  Owens wanted nothing more than to be a part of something special. It is sad that Tony Romo and Jason Witten would not let that happen. Owens was never invited to their private meetings, never asked to join their after-hours practice sessions, never allowed to truly fit in. Jilted and rejected, T.O. still managed a 2008 season with 69 receptions 1052 yards and 10 touchdowns. Just think what he could have done had he enjoyed the support of his quarterback. Unfortunately, this is a quarterback’s league and on March 4, 2009 Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys decided it was time for T.O. to move on.

Hmm, when you look at it like that, maybe it is everyone else.