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I thought Terrell Owens couldn’t stoop any lower but I was wrong, way wrong…. Earlier this week the embattled pro football wide receiver was cut by the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League. The same Indoor Football League that is the home to the Chicago Slaughter. Owens signed with the team back in January after a 15 year career in the National Football League.
Between 1995-2010 Owens played for the 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills, and Bengals. Owens parted ways with the Niners after demanding a trade when he was unable to void the final year of his contract. He was deactivated from the Eagles after constant internal conflicts with Head Coach Andy Reid, and then Quarterback Donovan McNabb among others.
Dallas Owner Jerry Jones declined the option year of Owens’ contract when T.O. took to the media and accused Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo, Tight End Jason Whitten, and then Offensive Coordinator {Now Head Coach} Jason Garrett of holding secret meetings to conspire to create plays that purposely left Owens’ out of the game.
The Buffalo Bills declined Owens’ option year because he had one of the worst performing seasons of his career. Plus he also complained about the weather. And then his career in Cincinnati ended after a series of career threatening knee injuries. In early 2011 Owens had surgery to repair those injuries.
He spent the summer of 2011 rehabbing, and then in October of 2011 he held a public workout and invited both the media and NFL scouts. The media showed up in drones, only problem is not a single NFL team showed up to the workout. Just before thanksgiving Owens was offered a contract by the Chicago Rush. Owens would turn down the offer.
Now before I get into the situation with the Allen Wranglers, let me remind you of why Owens is not in the NFL…… T.O. has always had problems with every teammate he has ever had. San Francisco: Jerry Rice, Jeff Garcia, Steve Young Philadelphia: Donovan McNabb, Hugh Douglas, Brian Westbrook Dallas: Tony Romo, Jason Whitten, Marion Barber.
He has also befouled every coach and every team executive he has dealt with. He has disobeyed team rules on numerous occasions, has shown no regard for authority, and is very egomaniacial and disrespectful. Not to mention the fact that he no longer has his reality show. So around Christmas time the Allen Wranglers had offered T.O. a $500,000 contract.
Not only would he be the top wide receiver on the team, but he would also have a stake in ownership. According to the Wranglers, the addition of Owens’ led to numerous sellouts for the Wranglers home arena. And T.O. was also a popular attraction on the road as well. When Owens’ joined the team not only did he get the $500,00 salary, he also got a Jeep Cherokee and a temporary home.
This was supposed to either propel Owens back into the NFL, or at the worst make the IFL a profitable league. Neither of those outcomes would come to fruition. The decision to dismiss Owens came after he no-showed the team’s last two road games, skipped out on a charity event {A big no-no in any sport at any level}, and was showing up late for practice.
I guess Owens forgot that he’s not in the NFL anymore and that his diva like attitude wouldn’t fly. The IFL would much rather give the opportunity to undiscovered talent instead of veterans who feel entitled. Owens was cut on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the team demanded that he return the Jeep Cherokee he was driving and they evicted him from the apartment the team had been providing him.
The final nail in the coffin was on Thursday when the Wranglers recinded his ownership and gave him his severance pay, a lousy $50. It seems that Owens took the severance pay as an insult because he is now planning to sue the Wranglers for wrongful termination. The Wranglers say that they were just in letting him go because he breached his contract.
And I’d have to agree with them. As I mentioned in previous reports right here on Q101, Owens is in dire need of money. Since his departure from the NFL Owens has hit a financial snag. Bad investments, child support payments, property foreclosures, legal fees, supporting family members and being a victim of fraud really put Owens in a hole.
But I wonder where his priorities are when I see how things developed in the IFL. You would figure that all things considered Owens would have been a better teammate and a more model employee. But at the end of the day T.O. only looks out for himself and his interests, and in the end it costs him dearly. T.O.’s former teams are looking at the Wranglers right now and saying “I told you so!”
At this point I think Owens needs to wake up and realize that football is no longer an option. On his reality show, Owens had started to dabble into modeling and acting. He even starred in a small budget film last year. Perhaps he should finally check his ego at the door, eat the biggest humble pie ever baked, and maybe just maybe he can crossover into those other mediums.
Owens needs to realize that he’s in debt, his way of life has been adversely effected, and nobody seems to want him around anymore. Owens always talks about how much he praises and worships God, he thanked God on worldwide television for his 9 catch, 122 yard performance in the Super Bowl with the Eagles.
Perhaps Owens needs to beg for God’s mercy this time around. If this new obstacle doesn’t wake his ass up, I don’t know what will.
On a side note, the Rush will be honoring former Fullback Johnie Kirton on Sunday. As I mentioned in my last report, he passed away suddenly earlier this week. The cause of his death is still under investigation. The Rush will be holding a moment of silence for him before kickoff on Sunday {Against Spokane at 3pm}, there may be other memorials for him as well.
The Rush will be wearing their black uniforms for Sunday’s game, and one Rush player will be changing his jersey number. Rush Linebacker Kelvin Morris told me exclusively late Thursday night that he will change his jersey number from 11 to 37 which was the number Kirton wore during his career. He says the change will be permanent for the remainder of the season as a dedication to his fallen friend.
I will be in the press box for that game and I will be posting everything right here on Q101.com. Tickets are still available for the 3pm kickoff at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
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Tim Beckman, that’s right Tim Beckman. For those of you who don’t know who he is, I will give you some background. For the last three seasons (2009-2011), Beckman was the head coach for the University Of Toledo. There he lead the Rockets to back to back 8 win seasons in 2010 and 2011. They also made back to back bowl game appearances during that span.
They lost the 2010 Little Ceasars {Motor City} Bowl, and this season he led Toledo to the Military Bowl. Beckman was unable to coach the game because of his hiring at Illinois, but Toledo defeated Air Force 42-41. Beckman’s first year at Toledo wasn’t so great though, the Rockets only went 5-7 in 2009. But Beckman has proven he can turn a program around.
When Tim Beckman took over the Toledo program, he replaced long time Rockets head coach Tom Amstutz. Amstutz did take the program to glory by leading them to two Mid American Conference championships and 4 MAC West Division championships between 2001 and 2005. The Rockets also went 2-2 in 4 bowl games during that span.
The Rockets were one of the best offensive teams in college football during that time. They’re power running attack produced NFL running backs like former Chicago Bear Chester Taylor. But rumors of recruiting violations and three straight losing seasons from 2006-2009 led to his demise. Tim Beckman was brought in from Oklahoma State where he was the defensive coordinator.
Under his leadership not only did Toledo’s defense improve, but they also changed the face of the offensive identity of the Rockets by bringing in the spread offense. Tim Beckman’s Rockets were one of the best scoring offenses in the Mid American Conference. The Illini already run a form of the spread led by Nathan Scheelhasse.
But defense was Illinois biggest weakness during the 2011 season. While Beckman may improve the Illini when it comes to X’s and O’s, the bigger question is whether or not Beckman will be able to recruit in Big Ten territory. For the immediate future, The Fighting Illini already have some pieces in place.
But in the long term, Tim Beckman will need to make some noise in the recruiting department in order to be successful at Illinois. But the Illini have already set the wheels in motion in a positive direction by defeating UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger bowl on New Years Eve. We can only hope and pray that better days are on the horizon for the Fighting Illini football team.
The Bears season may be over but the offseason is just getting started. After 10 years the powers that be at Halas Hall have finally pulled the plug on Jerry Angelo. He was fired from his general manager position on Monday. Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz and Quarterbacks Coach Shane Day will be leaving as well.
But Lovie Smith will remain the Head Coach of the Bears and now the search is on for a new general manager. Despite all that the Bears accomplished under Angelo, he hasn’t always made the best decisions. Before Jay Cutler, Angelo had paraded in some of the worst quarterbacks in NFL history. He wasn’t the best draft guy, and on many occasions he failed to land big free agents.
The Bears are still looking for that elusive super bowl title, and hopefully a new general manager with a fresh perspective can help the Bears finally get over the hump. And lastly we have a Terrell Owens update. There is both good news and bad. The good news is that he may finally have a team to play for in 2012.
It’s not an NFL team, instead it’s the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League located in suburban Dallas, Texas. Although nothing has been made official yet, reports are that the deal is worth six figures ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. But again nothing has been finalized and we will keep you updated.
As for the bad news, on Tuesday night T.O. used his Twitter account to announce the death of the grandmother whom he affectionately referred too as “Grandmama”. As documented on his VH1 reality show, she had been battling Alzheimers for many years. We here at Q101 send our thoughts and prayers with Terell and the Owens family.
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Well, we were hoping the unthinkable wouldn’t happen but it did. The Illinois Fighting Illini football program completed one of it’s worst seasons in school history. They started the season 6-0 with high hopes and a lot of promise. But they finished the season 0-6, their worst losing streak since the 2006 season when they lost 7 in a row. After Illinois lost their first 4 games, rumors about Ron Zook’s job security started buzzing.
But the Fighting Illini lost the final 2 games of the season, the last game was on Saturday a 27-7 loss to Minnesota. Minnesota was the 2nd worst team in the Big Ten this year, beating Illinois was only their 3rd victory of the season. And after this disaster of a season, Ron Zook was fired from his head coaching job on Sunday morning. His dismissal ends a 7 year reign in which he compiled 34 wins, 50 losses, no conference championships, finished 5th the Big Ten Leaders division this year, and only 1 bowl victory.
His recruiting ability has been called into question because while he had a winning season every year while coaching at the University Of Florida, he only had 3 winning seasons at Illinois. His success at Florida was mainly because he had some of Steve Spurrier’s leftover recruits. While at Illinois he used mostly his own recruits and was mostly unsuccessful. Ron Zook will eventually land on his feet. I predict that he will either coach a smaller university, or he will be hired as an assistant coach.
But now Illinois Athletic Director Mike Thomas has to find a new coach for the U of I’s football team. Should Illinois get into a bowl game this year, Defensive Coordinator Vic Koenning will be the Interim Head Coach for that game. But eventually a new coach and a new staff will be brought in for the 2012 season. As for candidates to replace Ron Zook are concerned, the coaches on everyone’s Christmas wish list have already been claimed.
Urban Meyer was hired this week by conference rival Ohio State, and former Michigan and West Virginia Head Coach Rich Rodriguez was named the new coach at Arizona. So who’s left? Well the name on the Illini faithful’s wish list is former Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach. Leach who was fired after the 2009 season for a controversial run-in with a Texas Tech player has not coached since then. And according to reports Mike Thomas has already received a flood of e-mails and phone calls demanding that Leach be hired as the new coach.
Leach is the man who invented the “Air Raid Offense” which was adapted as a spread offense which is now used by several college and high school teams. Leach who coached Texas Tech from 2000-2009, posted an overall record of 84-43, and posted a bowl game record of 5-4. He never won a Big 12 Conference title, but he did win the Big 12’s South Division in 2008 which was his best season at Texas Tech.
Before coaching the Red Raiders, Leach was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma during the 1999 season where he worked with eventual Heisman Trophy winner Josh Heupel. Before that he ran the offense at Kentucky for the 1997 and 1998 seasons where we worked with the number one draft pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, Tim Couch. Leach has a reputation of breeding record breaking quarterbacks. Aside from Tim Couch and Josh Heupel, Leach has also made prospects out of Graham Harrell, Kliff Klingsbury, and B.J. Symons. But Thomas has said that he will “take an appropriate course of action in finding a new football coach”. Another possible candidate could be recently fired UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel. Although his overall head coaching record stand at 87 wins and 58 losses, 3 of his 4 seasons at UCLA were losing seasons. This year the Bruins went 6-6 this year, and won the Pac-12 South Division by default because of USC’s football team being on probation. But it wasn’t a pretty season at all.
But Neuheisel is quite the offensive mind himself, he is a big proponet of the West Coast Offense. He is also a man with his own line of quarterbacks such as Kordell Stewart, Koy Detmer, Marques Tuiasosopo, and Cody Pickett. But only time will tell to see who will be Illinois’ next coach. But after the misfortunes with both Ron Zook and Ron Turner, I am sure the University Of Illinois will make the right decision this time around.
NBA Lockout Ends
On a couple of side notes unrelated to this matter, the NBA will open it’s practice facilities to players today. Players can workout, and strength/conditioning coaches along with medical personnel will be allowed to monitor workouts. However coaches and executives will not be allowed to attend workouts. But on the plus side, teams can speak with player agents. But no official deals can be made until the new labor agreement {Which came to light early Saturday morning} is officially ratified by both the players and owners.
NBA Commissioner David Stern has said that he hopes that teams can start making transactions on December 9th.
T.O. Touchdown?
As for the latest on free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens, there are rumors buzzing about that Owens could end up with the New England Patriots before the season is out. Owens’ agent Drew Rosenhaus has been spotted on the sidelines at Patriots games and has been seen visiting Patriots practices.
Even though Patriots Receiver Chad Johnson (No, “Ochocinco”) is also client of Rosenhaus, he normally doesn’t frequent teams sidelines as often as he has been with New England as of late. Could the addition of Owens push Johnson to become more effective on offense? Or would such an addition crash and burn like it did in Cincinnati? I guess we have to wait and see….
By Q101.com Blogga Gabe “The Animal” Salgado
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In my first report on the former NFL Wide Receiver, I had mentioned that after he held his public workout a few weeks ago no NFL teams were interested. Owens is attempting a comeback to the NFL after injury plagued seasons in Buffalo in 2009 and Cincinnati in 2010. In April while recovering from meniscus surgery, Owens had torn the ACL in that same knee. He had surgery again and he is hoping to make a comeback to pro football, but so far no one in the NFL is interested.
But a couple days after he held his public workout in Los Angeles, the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League offered T.O. a contract. It has come to light recently that Owens is in need of the millions that are paid via NFL contracts. Recently season 3 of his VH1 reality show “The T.O. Show”, reveals that he is struggling financially to some degree. Last year Owens invested money into a project that he thought was going to be an Alabama casino.
But it turns out that Owens was one of many investors who were scammed by a money laundering scheme that ended up taking millions of dollars from people. Owens says he invested $4 Million of his own money in the project. A woman who claimed to be an “Account Executive” for this scam was the one who took T.O.’s money. Owens says that once the scam came to light, he was unable to contact this woman and has not heard from her in months. His money has yet to be returned or recovered.
Owens also revealed on his show that he was essentially “robbed” by a friend of his whom he trusted with his debit card. Owens claimed that this “friend” was only permitted to use the card to pay his rent. Owens said he discovered that this “friend” had rented an apartment and was living with 4 other people. All 5 people in the apartment were unemployed and were living off of T.O.’s money. He noticed in his bank statement that this unnamed male friend used his money not only for the apartment…
But also used it for daily living expenses, monthly bills, and went on numerous spending sprees. Owens claimed to have lost another million or so with that disaster and terminated the account. It is unknown if he pressed charges in the matter. We would also come to find out at least half of Owens’ family members {Including his brother, mother, and grandmother} depend on his money. Losing all that money has caused T.O. to scale back on family assistance.
Keep in mind Owens also has to pay his Agent Drew Rosenhaus, and his 2 publicists Monique Williams and Kita Jackson. But the biggest monetary problem Owens faces is the numerous properties he owns throughout the country. So far he has managed to sell his San Francisco area condo that he lived in while playing with the 49ers from 1995-2003. But he still has his Jersey Shore mansion from his time with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2004-2005.
He also has his townhome in Ft. Worth Texas from his time with the Dallas Cowboys from 2006-2008. During his days in Buffalo and Cincinatti he rented hotel rooms. But from 1999-2005 Owens spent his offseasons at a lavish estate in Atlanta. He also has a Condo in Los Angeles where he has been living for the most part since his departure from Dallas. During his offseasons in Dallas, Owens lived in an expensive beach front apartment in Miami.
And while recovering and rehabbing from his recent surgeries, Owens rented Condo’s in both Miami and Pensacola, Florida. It is unknown if he still rents these condos. But as for the other properties, Owens is still paying the mortgage on each one. Owens says he is hoping to either sell or rent out the properties in Jersey, A-Town, and North Texas. Owens says he plans to live in Los Angeles when he’s not playing football. And as I’ve said the status of the Florida properties is unknown.
But until he can find buyers and renters, Owens is still paying for those properties. But rumors have come about over the last couple days that the Atlanta property is about to be foreclosed on. Another major issue that has come up recently is child support payments for his 4 children with 4 different women. Owens was sued by the mother of one of his daughters over child support payments earlier this year but settled out of court.
The mother to one of his sons filed a child support complaint in a California court room back in October. The mother says that Owens was not paying the full amount of monthly child support, Owens has asked that the payments on this particular child be reduced. A bench warrant was issued for T.O. after he failed to show up for court on this matter. Owens says that he tried to reschedule the court date but was unsuccessful thus resulting in the warrant.
Owens did turn himself in and the case is currently pending. After turning himself in, Owens said he will seek lower payments for his other children as well. So…… It’s obvious that Owens made a bad investing decision as far that non-existant casino goes. I hope that everyone who was victimized somehow gets their money back and that those responsible are brought to justice. As for the debit card issue, that was just a flat out dumb idea.
You’re a multi-millionare, did you honestly think that someone in that situation wouldn’t take advantage? As for the properties, that’s just frivolous spending right there. It’s one thing to move from one city to the next when you’re a pro athlete. But all of the offseason homes are very unnecessary and now you gotta pay the price. Because of this financial mismanagement his family now has to pay the price. Owens sure as hell could use an NFL contract right now.
Which brings me back to the Chicago Rush. Can the Rush honestly afford to pay Terrell Owens? Between 2002-2008, unnamed sources say that the AFL was able to play it’s players between $80,000 to $2 Million a season. When the economy tanked in the fall of 2008, the AFL’s biggest corporate sponsors took massive financial hits. And the local sponsors for it’s teams also lost money to some degree. Unfortunetly the AFL became very dependent on sponsorship money and the league ended up suffering as a result.
So the AFL suspended the 2009 season to get it’s books in order and restructure financially. When they came back in 2010, there were fewer sponsors and significant pay cuts. Some teams folded, other teams went to different leagues, and some teams didn’t return until 2011, and there are even a couple teams who will finally return to the league in 2012. According to recent information, the AFL now only plays it’s players between $10,000 to $50,000 a season. Some AFL players supplement their income by either playing in the UFL in the fall, or working offseason jobs.
The Rush has said that they are willing to raise ticket prices and offer “comprehensive season ticket packages” to afford Terrell Owens contract. Now, considering that league rules state that contract terms are not to be disclosed one can only assume what the Rush are offering Terrell Owens. I’m sure that they are aware of Owens recent troubles. And I am assuming that if they want Owens to be a part of the team, either he will be the highest paid player or they will offer major incentives.
Unless the NFL comes through with an offer to Terrell Owens, he just might have to take the Rush’s offer. But if there is one bright spot, it’s that T.O.’s acting career is finally starting to take off. Owens is set to star in the motion picture “Dysfunctional Friends” co-starring Stacy Dash and Wesley Johnathan sometime in 2012. So unless Owens can make enough movies to pay his bills, either football or some miracle will have to come his way.
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Terrell Owens the 37 {soon to be 38} year old free-agent, controversial, arrogant, flashy, self-centered, superficial, reality star/wide receiver has been offered a contract by the Chicago Rush. T.O. {As he likes to be called} has been playing pro football since 1995. He started his elaborate career with the San Francisco 49ers, he has been productive since day 1 but not without controversy. In 2000 he was part of the conspiracy {in my opinion} to get Jerry Rice out of San Fran.
In 2003, Owens made no secret of his dislike for then 49ers QB Jeff Garcia. The two exchanged heated words throughout the season both on the field and in the locker room. It was also during the 2003 season that T.O. made it known that he no longer wanted to be a part of the 49ers organization. His exit strategy from the Bay Area did not go as planned. He had a clause in his contract that would allow him to void the final year of his deal to become a free agent.
His agent just needed to file a certain piece of paperwork in order for that to happen. Only problem is, the agent representing him at that time did not file that paperwork by the deadline. When that happened Owens fired that agent and hired the super agent Drew Rosenhaus as a replacement. Then Owens and Rosenhaus went on a huge media blitz demanding that the 49ers trade T.O. to Philadelphia so he can play along side Donovan McNabb who was Philly’s quarterback at the time.
However knowing that the 49ers were scheduled to play the Eagles during the 2004 season, Niners management traded the disgruntled Owens to the Baltimore Ravens much to the dismay of Owens and his agent. Owens made it known that he refused to play with then Ravens Quarterback Kyle Boller. Owens felt that Boller was not a proven NFL quarterback {Which would turn out to be more than true}, Owens also said that he wasn’t a fan of Ray Lewis.
After those comments, the Ravens front office was more than happy to give into the demand to trade T.O. to Philadelphia. Once Owens got his wish, he continued to bad mouth Baltimore. During the pre-season opener of the 2004 season, the Ravens played the Eagles at home. Owens was targeted by the Ravens defense, but T.O. only played 1 series. That series only consisted of 1 play, which happened to be a 54 yard touchdown pass from Donovan McNabb to Terell Owens who easily outran the Ravens defense.
Owens was pulled from the game immediately. Owens had the best season of his career in 2004, well that was the case until he broke his ankle against the Dallas Cowboys in week 15 of the ’04 season. It appeared that he would be on the shelf for quite some time, but somehow he was able to suit up for the Eagles in Super Bowl 39. Claiming to be “Healed by God who is the greatest doctor in the world”, Owens caught 9 passes for 122 yards in a losing effort.
After the super bowl loss Owens began another media blitz. This time he was seeking to restructure his contract with the Eagles to gain more money so he can be one of top 10 highest paid receivers in the NFL. The Eagles never caved in, not even after Owens held out all offseason workouts and minicamps. Owens did report to training camp in 2005 but only did so after he was told to do so by Drew Rosenhaus.
During the first week of camp, T.O. was sent home for his disruptive behavior. He was disrespectful to coaches and other team personnel, he picked fights with his teammates {especially Donovan McNabb}, he refused to obey instructions, and bad mouthed the team and the organization to the media every chance he got. The day he was sent home, Terell decided to have a media circus in his driveway. While bad mouthing the team and demanding more money, T.O. did so by doing situps and lifting weights in his driveway while wearing his bluetooth earpiece.
At the end of the session, Owens demanded to be traded or released if he wasn’t granted a new contract. The Eagles suspended Owens, but the suspension was lifted after he issued an apology to the team. The Eagles struggled during the 2005 season finishing 5-11. But midway through the year, Owens was deactivated by the team for continuing to cause problems in the Eagles locker room. Once the 2005 season concluded the Eagles released Owens.
Just before offseason workouts began for the 2006 season, the Dallas Cowboys took a chance on Owens and signed him. He would play for the Cowboys through the 2008 season. But after constant confrontations with Bill Parcells and Wade Phillips {Dallas’ 2 head coaches during his time there}, not to mention another media blitz lashing out at Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo and Tight End Jason Whitten. Jerry Jones had enough and did not pick up the option on T.O.’s contract.
The 2009 season saw Owens take his act to Buffalo to play for the Bills. 2009 was probably the most disappointing season of his career. Not only was he not much of an offensive factor for the Bills, he also had some nagging injuries. After the ’09 campaign, both the Bills and T.O. were eager to part ways. In late July of 2010 the Cincinnati Bengals became the latest team to give Owens a shot. This time he was paired with another controversial wide receiver in Chad Johnson {I will not call him Ochocinco}.
Former Bengals Quarterback Carson Palmer was hoping to have the greatest season of his career. That did not happen. The Bengals struggled greatly, and before seasons end T.O. found himself on the injured reserve list for the first time in his career. Owens needed orthoscopic surgery on the meniscus in his left knee. While recovering from this injury he sustained a torn ACL in the same knee. A major operation was required and thus resulting the Bengals not offering him a contract for 2011. Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson have also departed Cincinnati.
As of this week, it appears that Owens has fully recovered. He held a public workout and invited both the media and NFL teams to watch and evaluate. The media showed up in drones, 0 yes I said 0 NFL teams showed up. On Wednesday the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League offered T.O. a contract. As per league rules, the terms of the contract are not disclosed. But I can guarantee you if he takes the offer he will not make as much money as he would make in the NFL.
Now aside from Owens’ well documented personal issues, this is what the Chicago Rush would get should Owens sign the contract:
1,078 receptions
15,934 yards
153 touchdowns
He also averaged 14.8 yards per catch
Owens also still has decent speed and not to mention he also one of the strongest and most agile wide receivers to play the game. However Owens does not like to block, he always needs to be the star of the team, he demands the ball on every play, and he is not afraid to create conflict. Rush Head Coach Bob McMillan is the toughest guy ever to play arena football, I would sure hope that he would not tolerate T.O.’s crap.
Now aside from the financial aspect, here are the adjustments that Owens would have to make should he choose to join the Rush:
The field is smaller {50 yards}, the fans have access, players are required to meet and greet fans after games, and the AFL has much stricter rules than the NFL. Then there is the fact that Terell Owens may have to learn to play defense. Unless they make him an offensive specialist {Only playing wide receiver}, he would have to learn to play defensive back or linebacker. And I cannot see Owens playing defense, the recent episode of Necessary Roughness does not count. As of late Owens has obviously been injury prone, but age could be a factor in that aspect.
I can understand why the Rush would make this decision. As much of an A-hole Terell Owens can be, he is a star attraction. This will boost ticket sales and media coverage for the Rush for the 2012 season. This will also boost media coverage of the AFL as a whole. Merchandise sales will also boost as well. If Owens can learn to adjust to the indoor game he could be productive. But I just don’t think it’s worth the headaches and problems.
The Rush have been to the playoffs every year since its inception in 2001, and they did it with lesser known wide receivers. This is a huge gamble for the Rush, I just hope they can prepare themselves for potential disappointment. If I don’t want Terell Owens to play for the Bears, why would I want him to play for the Rush?
By Q101.com Blogga Gabe Salgado
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