Terrell Owens finds out on Saturday night if he’ll be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If he is, he doesn’t want it to be as a member of the 49ers, according to comments the former wide receiver made to TMZ on Tuesday.
Responding to a question from TMZ Sports in the video below regarding the team he’ll choose, Owens said “it won’t be the Niners.” Owens did not offer an explanation as to why. Interestingly, Owens’ desires won’t matter if he is indeed inducted, as the Pro Football Hall of Fame does not induct players as members of a specific team, as is the case in baseball.
Owens played the lion’s share of his career with the 49ers from 1996-2003, making the Pro Bowl four times, and the first team All-Pro team three times. During that stretch, he also tallied 592 receptions for 8,572 yards and 81 touchdowns. Owens, who was drafted by the 49ers in the third round in 1996, did not part ways with the organization amicably, and forced his way out of a contract that still had three years remaining on it. Owens was eventually traded to the Philadelphia Eagles, where he had one excellent season in 2004, before being suspended by the team for a chunk of the 2005 season.
Owens is second on the NFL’s all-time receiving list with 15,934 yards and third with 153 touchdowns, but his reputation as a locker room cancer has kept him out of the Hall of Fame in his first two years of eligibility. Owens will need 80 percent of the selection committee’s vote on Saturday to be inducted.
“I feel more disrespect than disappointed,” Owens told NFL Network’s Good Morning Football via Bleacher Report. “And I’ve always said, too, that when you align your expectations with reality, you’ll never be disappointed. So I think in terms of my body of work and what I’ve done for the game, that speaks loudly for itself. But in terms of bringing up all these other narratives as for why I’m not in the [Hall of Fame] as far as character issues … it doesn’t add up.”
