Terrell Owens is making his return to professional football in the Fan Controlled Football League this month, yet was hoping his pitch to play professional football again would get him back in the NFL last season. Owens, who played for Andy Reid when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles, was hoping the current Chiefs coach would give him a shot when Kansas City Chiefs needed a wide receiver during the middle of last year.
The Chiefs signed Josh Gordon instead, even with Owens asking for an opportunity.
"I talk extensively time to time with Andy Reid, who coached me when I was in Philly," Owens said on The Pat McAfee Show this week. "I was blowing his phone up throughout the course of the year. I'm like, 'Dude bring me in, bring me in.' You know what I mean?
"But they brought Josh Gordon in and he didn't do anything. I can do what Josh Gordon was doing, which I mean, he didn't amount to anything really. That's not to say anything bad about him."
Gordon finished with just five catches for 32 yards and a touchdown in seven games last season, numbers the 48-year-old Owens believes he could have met if the Chiefs signed him. Owens, who never actually retired from the NFL, had 72 catches for 983 yards and nine touchdowns in his final season in 2010 at age 37. No team signed Owens since, a reason why he wants to return and prove he still has something to offer to a team -- 12 years after his final game.
Owens' 15,934 career receiving yards rank third in NFL history (behind only Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald), while his 153 receiving touchdowns are also third (behind only Rice and Randy Moss). Owens also has 1,078 receptions, good for eighth in NFL history.
An all-decade selection in the 2000s, Owens led the NFL in touchdown receptions three times and finished with nine 1,000-yard seasons. He was a five-time All-Pro selection and made the Pro Bowl six times. Owens' 75 touchdown catches after turning 30 trail Rice (102) for most in NFL history, and his 7,601 receiving yards after turning 30 are the sixth-most all time.
Would Owens give the Chiefs a shot if they called this offseason? Don't put it past him.
"You had Tyreek HIll there, you got Travis Kelce, you put me on the other side of that formation. Somebody has to commit to one side or the other. Because at the end the day, I'm going to get open," Owens said. "I'm going to be a viable option, just as Travis Kelce will be. .... So like I said, it has to be a very unique situation for me (to return to the NFL) and obviously a good opportunity. But again, like I said, I know that I can come in and I can contribute."
