Terrell Owens Confident He’ll Play in 2011
Added on Aug 25, 2011 by Scott in
No Comments
In between filming scenes for an episode of USA Network’s football series Necessary Roughness, free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens took time to reaffirm his plans to play in 2011, five months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL. Owens believes his knee is still two months away from being fully healed, but is confident teams will start calling once his rehab concludes.
Owens used the lockout period to help accelerate his recovery. According to him, not rushing back for minicamps and OTAs was beneficial.
“It worked out for me,” he said. “I don’t see where there was a disadvantage considering nobody was doing anything at the time. There was a lot of downtime. But that’s for anybody who was nursing an injury. It allowed us that time with no pressure.”
Doubting Owens ability to contribute in 2011 would be foolish. He might be the most well-conditioned athlete in all of sports. At 37, he’s not the elite receiver he once was, but he still possesses playmaker skills and deceptive speed as evidenced by his 72 receptions for 983 yards and nine touchdowns last season with the Bengals.
Even at 75% he’s better than half the wideouts in the league. A contender in need of help at the position could do a lot worse than Owens. His miraculous six-week recovery from a broken fibula prior to Super Bowl XXXIX is widely considered one of the most amazing athletic accomplishments in recent memory.
On the flipside, Owens can be a major headache inside a locker room. He wore out his welcome in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Dallas. burning several bridges in the process. However, he’s been on his best behavior during the last two years, so maybe, just maybe, Mr. Me has done a little growing up.
In 15 seasons, Owens has amassed 1,076 catches for 15,934 yards and 153 touchdowns. Only Jerry Rice has scored more as a wide receiver.
Source: NFL.com
