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The Four Corners Report: Terrell Owens

BlackJack says:

Terrell Owens (Don't call me TER-RELL) is heading into his 10th year in the NFL. His career stats are 669 receptions for 9772 yards and 95 TD's. The first 8 years were in San Francisco where he eventually became the replacement for legendary Jerry Rice. Not an easy task. Last year he signed with Philadelphia and helped lead the team to the Super Bowl scoring 14 regular season TD's.

No wide receiver in the NFL has scored more TD's over the last 5 years than T.O. 66. ( 65 receiving and 1 rushing) no one. Although Owens gets lumped in with the problem child bad boy receivers it is not a moniker he deserves. He is not a head case like Randy Moss. He doesn't take plays off during a game. He does not get into trouble off the field but his reputation does stem from his on the field antics during games. Dancing on the Dallas Cowboys beloved Star, The Sharpie Incident, mocking friend Ray Lewis's sack dance all after scoring TD's. Also complaining he isn't getting the ball enough and going off on teammates and coaches during games.

T.O. wants to win and the way he came back last season after breaking his foot proves that. All the doctors were against him coming back so soon and said that it couldn't be done. But T.O. is quite the physical specimen of a receiver and showed how much heart, toughness and desire he has. He proved them wrong and had a good game with 9 receptions for 122 yards. Unfortunately T.O. is in a contract squabble at the moment and may miss the pre-season if a new contract is not signed. This does not help his reputation.

Owens annoys people plain and simple. Does he take it too far? Yes, sometimes. Is he a bad person? No, just a misguided player. He is a big powerful receiver blessed with talent and when he plays is as good as you can get. However, weather you can stomach his on the field tirades and TD celebrations is another story.

Iceman Says:

Terrell Owens. The name brings on many thoughts. Mine are: crybaby, showoff, and egomaniac. However, the guy is a fantasy stud, and there is very little debate about that. Over the last 5 years, he has scored 65 touchdowns, and averaged 89 receptions and 1100+ yards per season. At 6'3", he is a tall receiver. He is also very strong. However, Owens is 31 and his numbers have been declining over the past three years. He has suffered through nagging injuries that will almost certainly shorten his playing time as well as his career.

Now, in the latter days of Owen' career, he wants to re-work his contract that he signed - last year. A 7 year, 49 million dollar contract. He has gone out and hired super agent Drew Rosenhaus to get his deal done. The Iceman is from the school that believes that when you make a commitment, you stand by it. So stop crying about money, and get out there and play Terrell. You signed a contract that was so back loaded, so live up to your commitment.

So what do the Eagles do with such a talented, yet detestable person? There is no question that he is a bad seed, probably bad for an organization. Stand up people like Donovan McNabb and Bill Walsh have had enough of Terrell Owens, so one has to wonder what Jeffrey Lurie and Andy Reid think.

Owens proved that he is a gritty competitor when he came out in the Super Bowl just 6 weeks after surgery and grabbed 9 passes for 122 yards. He was in obvious pain. However, one has to wonder if he used that performance as a springboard to attempt to get a new contract, or if he loves the limelight so much, that he felt compelled to play in the game. Owens stated that he is the best receiver in the league and wants to be paid as such. I'm sure that Randy Moss and Marvin Harrison would like to debate him on that point.

So now he puts the Eagles on the defensive, and they are loathe to re-negotiate contracts given to players. The Iceman is happy to see the Eagles sticking to their guns, and should put the ball in Owens' court. Now hopefully the Eagles will put an exclamation point after their statement and draft a wide receiver early with their bevy of picks in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Would I want Terrell Owens on my team if I were a coach? NO WAY !! But, there is no question that he would be very high on my list as a fantasy owner, IF HE PLAYS IN 2005.

Sheamus says:

In the NFL where hardly a word is spoken along to rock the boat along comes Terrell Owens. Controversy always seems to be his sidekick but when a player puts up the type of numbers that Terrell has it makes no difference to me. Terrell is a fantasy owners dream; a player that continually puts up fantastic yardage as well as touchdowns. It is almost impossible to distinguish between Randy Moss and Terrell and having either one on a team is a great advantage to have. Even with the change of teams and quarterback a season ago Terrell maintained his high standards and was having a MVP type season until his injury.

I for one have always been a fan of Terrell. I was in Texas Stadium the day he posed on the Star not once but twice, I watched with a laugh over the "Sharpie" on a Monday night and watched him shake the pom-poms not long after. The flair for the game as well as his talents makes Terrell one of the few players in the league that make the game fun to watch.

Antics aside, Terrell is a fantasy stud. A certain top 10 pick in any league, Terrell has proven his worth year after year. With his performance in the Super Bowl it is obvious that there will be no lingering effects from the injury and to expect those same Terrell numbers in the '05 season. The Eagles and Coach Reid seem to always know how to utilize his talents the best and make sure he has the amount of touches he deserves. It should be a given for Terrell owners to expect 110 receptions for 1300-1500 yards and 15+ touchdowns.

The Commish Says:

There is no disputing the fact that Terrell Owens is one of the elite pass catchers in the NFL today. In nine seasons, he has missed only nine regular season games. He has averaged 74 catches, 1086 yards and 10.5 touchdowns per season. He is a playmaker, a difference maker, a player on the level of Randy Moss and Marvin Harrison. He is the second rated receiver in the TCFS rankings. In fact, yours truly had him ranked number one. In San Francisco, he made Jerry Rice expendable! Jerry Rice!!

For all his talent on the field and his value as a fantasy stud, the plain, simple truth is that T.O. represents the "me first" attitude of a lot of the leagues' players. Quite simply, it is a turnoff.

Let's take a look at his track record. While in San Francisco:
. Pulls a sharpie out of his sock after scoring a touchdown and autographs the football
. Scores a touchdown, grabs a set of pom poms from a cheerleader, and gets his groove on
. In a game at Dallas, celebrates not once, but twice on the star at midfield; in a return visit to Big D, does a quickie celebration on a smaller star in the end zone
. Complains about his coaches and questions his quarterbacks sexual orientation
. Demands to be traded; gets traded to Baltimore, where he apparently doesn't want to play. After enough whining and then threatening not to play, he gets traded to Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is happy enough with him to redo his contract, 7 years worth almost 49 million dollars. That also included a signing bonus of 10 million dollars. Not too shabby. Then T.O. goes out and earns his money in 2005. He gets injured with two games left in the season, but miraculously returns for the Super Bowl, where he has a dominating performance despite the Eagles loss. It was a truly heroic performance.

Here is where things start to get fuzzy for me. Sometime after the Super Bowl, T.O. decided that the 49 million 7 year contract he had signed only a year ago wasn't good enough any more. I guess 49 million doesn't go quite as far as it did in 2004. When is enough enough? As a fan, I've more than had my fill of ungrateful, ego maniacal, self promoting players like Terrell Owens. Don't try to sell me on the whole short career, non guaranteed contracts, one injury away b.s. I understand all that. It's 49 MILLION DOLLARS!! And 10 MILLION GUARANTEED!! I've never made 49 thousand dollars in a year!

So I hope T.O. holds out. I also hope the Eagles do not trade him or release and make him honor his contract. What would happen if you or I decided just to ignore any legal contract that we signed? We wouldn't have a leg to stand on, and the legal consequences would be serious. What gives T.O. and other players the right to ask for more money and then hold out when they don't get it when they already have a contract!

Now that I'm off my soapbox, here's my take on Terrell Owens the player. He's extremely talented, but in the next rankings, I'll have dropped him to third, behind Moss and Harrison. The reason is that no good can come of this latest stunt. It will only cause resentment in the locker room, and that kind of stuff can and I think will carry over to the field. Philly went out of their way to bring him in and make him happy and this is how he repays them. That won't sit well with most of the other players.

Talented. Also, ungrateful, spoiled, self centered and ego driven. That's Terrell Owens.