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Seahawks call Time Out on T.O’s NFL career… for good?

By Bria Davis

After signing a 1-year contract with the Seahawks in August, Terrell Owens was cut before the season even began. (Ted S. Warren / AP)

Terrell Owens has not been a topic of conversation until recently when the Seattle Seahawks made the announcement to terminate the almost 40–year-old’s contract.

Endearingly known as T.O. to fans, he’s had a rather stagnant NFL career since 2010. It wasn’t until August 6 of this year that the Seahawks signed him. Not even a month later, his termination was put into effect.

This action speaks volumes. Numerous times over the past few years, we have seen Owens try to make many attempts to revive his fading career.

Owens showed great promise early on with the Seahawks but in a game against the Kansas City Cheifs, he struggled. As mentioned, Terrell Owens is nearing the age of 40 and for such a fast paced, high impact sport, one might question his physical aptness for the program.

Many NFL players entering the league are young guys who’ve got some room to grow. At his age, it seems that Owens just has too much mileage on him and just does not have much room for improvement.

T.O had a great start to his NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers in 1996. Alongside quarterback Steve Young, he helped bring in 13 wins that season.

Terrell Owens had a successful start to his career, but after some "conduct issues" never seemed to stick with another team. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

While much of his time was spent with the 49ers, T.O would eventually move on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills. Most of his team-hopping was due to conflicts that had come about involving Owens’ conduct.

Once released from the Buffalo Bills, Owens experienced a short dry spell in his football career and opted for one of the lower forms of publicity—a reality show.

Airing in 2009, the T.O. show featured an out-of-work Terrell Owens searching for a team. As a free agent, Owens’ show documented his daily life with publicists that doubled as best friends Monique Jackson and Kita Williams.

The reality show point is always a telltale sign of a new career low for any celebrity that was once known for something else. In retrospect, Owens’ career was over long before his termination from the Seahawks.

As if the reality show was not enough of a disgrace to T.O’s name, he followed it up by filming a movie titled “Dysfunctional Friends,” in which other B-list celebrities were featured. In fact, portions of the filming can be seen on the T.O. show.

Some may argue that Owens should be given credit for trying to extend his talents beyond football; however, his argument might hold more weight if the endeavors Owens decided to participate in were more established roles that perhaps enhanced his appearance rather than lowered him to the status of reality star.

At any rate, Owens seems somewhat un-phased by the termination. Following the announcement, Owens took to twitter to express his thoughts on the situation stating that, “ I’m no longer a Seahawk. I THANK the organization 4 the opportunity, I’m truly blessed beyond belief. My FAITH is intact & will NOT waiver.” It is definitely great to see that Owens remains positive through such an unwelcome event.


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