Terrell Owens has never made a formal retirement announcement from football despite having played his last NFL regular season snap in 2010. But if he had his way, then he would be playing for a while in this decade.
Speaking on comedian Jerry “Bubba Dub” Morgan’s eponymous podcast on Wednesday, the veteran wide receiver revealed that he had reached out to Tom Brady in early 2022 to express his interest in playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, he was ignored:
“The year that AB went crazy… At that point in time they was at the end of the season, I didn’t need to play a full season. They just needed somebody to at least fill some holes.”
He added:
“I reached out to him through (former Brady teammate) Randy [Moss] and a couple other people just to come in and play third down, red zone. This dude really ignored me. Just shows you how the lack of respect is. But then when they get in front of you they want to act like they respect you.”
Terrell Owens refutes notion that he was a locker room cancer during his career
There is a duality about Owens’ career that makes it one of the most fascinating in NFL history.
On one hand, he was a very prolific and flashy pass-catcher who had at least one thousand-yard and double-digit-touchdown season, five First-team All-Pro selections and six Pro Bowl appearances. On the other, he polarized fanbases with his extravagant touchdown celebrations and feuds with his quarterbacks, which led to claims of him being a locker room cancer.
But in that same interview with Morgan, Owens denied the notion:
“You’re on the very platform on which a lot of information has come from – the media, social media platforms. But if yout think about it, where did that information come from? Who? Have you heard any of my teammates say that?… Even (linebacker and former Cowboys teammate) Marcus Spears, he’s heard these narratives. He looked at the camera and basically told everybody, ‘Where did you hear that from?'”
After leaving the Cowboys, Owens joined the Buffalo Bills, where he failed to hit 1,000 yards while playing more than half the schedule for the first time since 1999. He then moved to the Cincinnati Bengals where he fell 17 yards just short of a thousand and one touchdown short of double digits.
He was briefly with the Seattle Seahawks during the 2012 preseason but was cut before playing any games.