Reflections on Terrell Owens

On Monday, a 38 year old WR was working out for a team trying to earn a chance to get on an NFL team.  He had been out of the league for a year and was trying to get one more shot.  His workout was impressive enough that the team agreed to terms to sign him to a 1 year deal.  That team was the Seattle Seahawks.  That player was Terrell Owens.

When I heard that T.O. was working out for the Seahawks, I didn't know what to think.  Owens, for all intents and purposes, had hit rock bottom.  He was out of the league last year after coming off of knee surgery.  He tried to do a workout last October and no teams took a flyer on him.  He ended up signing with the Allen Wranglers, an Indoor Football League team (which is a rung lower that Arena Football) and didn't even finish the season before booted off.  He's had financial & personal problems involving bad investments & child support.  And this was only a few months ago.  So needless to say, I was somewhat surprised that head coach Pete Carroll was giving T.O. a tryout after all that.

Then word came out after the tryout, Owens ran a sub 4.5 40yds.  That's fast no matter how old or young you are.  They said he looked "ridiculous" (in the good sense of the word).  Because of this, that is why they signed him to a 1 year, 1 million dollar contract.

Much has been said about Owens, how he's narcassistic.  How he disrupts the locker room.  How he's bad for the chemistry of a team.  And given his recent history with the indoor football team, it's hard to argue against it.  However, he is a great talent.  He is gifted athletically.  He has a high "football" I.Q.  Even at 38, he's probably in the top 10 WR in the league if he truly is 100%.  And given the need for WR in Seattle and the contract that they signed here, it's a low risk/medium to high reward.

Personally, I do hope that Owens turns his life around.  I do think this will be his last shot in the NFL and I think he understands that.  Time will tell if he truly has changed.  But if he has & he's playing at a level that he can, then things just got more interesting at CenturyLink Field.  As some have been saying on Twitter, get your lattes ready.