San Francisco 49ers legend Terrell Owens is turning heads again after insisting he could still suit up for an NFL squad right now. The fifty-two-year-old Hall of Famer is once again fueling his claim that the league froze him out, and that his prolonged absence from the gridiron isn’t due to physical decline. 

During a recent appearance on the “Throwbacks” podcast with Matt Leinart and Jerry Ferrara, Owens openly addressed his readiness to play. When Leinart asked how many snaps he could handle today, Owens initially made a massive claim before refining his projection into a clear, high-leverage situational role. 

“Oh yeah, I give you about 60 snaps… Yes, 60 snaps… That’s really not a lot of snaps. Okay, let’s dial it down. Let’s dial it down. I say I say maybe 20 to 35. Third-down and red zone situations. I can be a viable option, and I can be a decoy at the same time,” Terrell Owens claimed.

In the comments section of the podcast’s IG post, one comment noted, “He (Owens) could’ve been closer to Jerry Rice if the league didn’t freeze him out.”

The 49ers legend confirmed the accusations, replying with, “True but I can adjust and all depends on the OC as well.”

Back in January 2022, right after Antonio Brown infamously stormed off the field mid-game against the New York Jets, Owens actually had Hall of Fame wideout Randy Moss reach out directly to Tom Brady. 

Terrell Owens pitched himself as a plug-and-play reinforcement specifically for third-down and red-zone packages during Tampa Bay’s postseason run, only for Brady to give him the silent treatment. Fast forward to today, he has expressed the same yet again.

This talk isn’t entirely baseless either because Terrell Owens has shown incredible physical longevity. Back in 2022, he clocked an official 4.38-second 40-yard dash and caught passes in Fan Controlled Football. That December, his agent Gregory Phillips even contacted the Dallas Cowboys about signing him for their upcoming playoff push. 

The root of Owens’ frustration stretches back to his final NFL campaign in 2010 with Cincinnati. Despite turning thirty-seven, he recorded 72 receptions for 983 yards and nine touchdowns across 14 games. After rehabbing a torn ACL in 2011, no franchise offered him a regular-season deal, effectively cutting his productive career short. Owens believes this abrupt end was coordinated.

“They blackball you, and they don’t put your name in the good graces of a lot of organizations,” Terrell Owens bluntly stated in an interview with USA Today Sports. 

He later compared his exile from Football to Colin Kaepernick’s situation, arguing outspoken players face institutional lockouts from owners.

Terrell Owens is more than aware of the kind of effect he has as a football player. Speaking on the Throwbacks podcast, Owens explained how today’s media would have talked about him.

“Honestly, I would be like the football version of Draymond Green. A lot of people say that I’m kind of like I was ahead of my time… back then, 10, 15 years ago, we didn’t really have a voice… They gotta have a hero, and they gotta have a villain and I just happened to be in that villain category,” Terrell Owens explained.

Owens claims television analysts easily painted him into a corner while he was playing. The scrutiny that he faced regularly from the media back then forced him to do his talking on the field. He famously caught 9 passes for 122 receiving yards in Super Bowl XXXIX on a broken leg. 

“If I went out there and really played bad, it was going to validate whatever they were saying about me,”  Owens confessed, shedding light on his relentless work ethic. 

Perhaps this is why the 52-year-old 5x First Team All-Pro wideout still believes he could make it to an active roster in the NFL and make his doubters eat their words… again.