NFL Rumors: What to Expect From Terrell Owens With the Seattle Seahawks in 2012
As many expected this offseason, free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens has finally found an NFL team for the 2012 season.
Owens has agreed to a one-year deal worth $1 million with the Seattle Seahawks, according to ESPN’s Ed Werder.
Owens had a workout with the team on Monday, where he reportedly ran a 40 yard dash in 4.45 seconds, an extremely impressive feat for a 38-year old wide receiver who is coming off ACL injury.
Owens missed all of the 2011 season, partly because of his ACL surgery and partly because he did not get any offers. He has not played since 2010 with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he caught 72 passes for 983 yards and nine touchdowns.
He did play in the winter of 2012 for the Allen Wranglers, an Indoor Football League team, where he was also a part-time owner. But he was cut from the team after eight games for failing to travel to road games.
Owens is the third veteran wide receiver brought in by a Seahawks team that is obviously desperate for talent. They signed and released veteran Antonio Bryant. They recently signed veteram Braylon Edwards. And on Monday, they added Owens.
Sidney Rice is still the number one wide receiver for the team but Seattle is clearly not confident about him, given their recent wide receiver signings. Rice had offseason surgeries on both shoulders and is being held out of all hitting drills during training camp. He is looking to rebound from a disappointing year after signing a huge contract before the 2011 season.
Other options at wide receiver for Seattle include Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin, and Ben Obomanu. The Seahawks cut Mike Williams, last year’s number two receiver, during the offseason.
It’s still unclear who will be the starting quarterback for the Seahawks, but I expect Matt Flynn, who signed a three-year deal worth $26 million with the team this offseason, to beat out veteran Tarvaris Jackson and rookie Russell Wilson for the starting spot.
I would be shocked if Flynn did not win the starting job. This one is a no-brainer to me. It’s not going to be the rookie quarterback. And Jackson has had his chance to prove himself as a viable starting quarterback in the NFL and he hasn’t done it. Besides, Flynn signed the big contract during the offseason and he looked phenomenal in the season finale against the Detroit Lions when he threw for 480 yards and six touchdowns.
A young quarterback (he may be 27 but this is his first year as a starter) could use a reliable veteran wide receiver. I think T.O. is that guy.
I posted my actual stats for Owens on Twitter earlier, and I’ll repeat them here. I expect the soon-to-be 39-year old wide receiver to catch 48 passes for 663 yards and six touchdowns in 10 games. (I think he’ll miss six due to injuries.)
Those numbers would make him close to the top receiving target in the league.
ESPN Stats & Info mentioned that only one of the 187 players with more than 20 catches last season was over the age of 35. Life in the NFL is not easy if you’re an old receiver, unless you’re Jerry Rice.
And Terrell Owens is definitely not Jerry Rice.
But he is probably closer than you realize. This is a player who ranks sixth in NFL history with 1078 receptions, and second to Rice with 15,934 yards and 153 touchdowns. He almost topped 1000 yards at the age of 37 years old.
I have no doubt that he would have been signed by a team earlier this offseason if he was not such a terrible teammate, although to give him credit, there were no reported incidents of him messing up the Buffalo Bills in 2009 or the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010.
I think he’ll be a talented receiver for Seattle next season, and I also think he’ll be a pretty good teammate. I actually think he’s matured over the years, as much as the bitter Philadelphia Eagles fan in me still angry about the ruined 2005 season, does not want to admit it.
Seattle is the perfect team for Owens. They’re a low-key, boring team. They don’t have a lot of pressure or expectations on them in 2012, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see them sneak into the postseason. And they don’t have an established corps of receivers, at all, which gives Owens a great opportunity to not only make the team, but emerge as a top target at wide receiver.
This article was written by Bryn Swartz, the top writer for the Philadelphia Eagles and a featured NFL columnist on Rant Sports. Bryn has written more than 1000 articles in less than two years as a member of Rant Sports. His blog, Eagles Central, was named the 2010 Ballhyped Sports Blog of the Year. To read a portfolio of Bryn’s best work, click here.
