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I never thought that I'd utter this phrase: poor Terrell Owens. In case you haven't been paying attention, it's been a year to forget for the former Bengals, Bills, Cowboys, Eagles and 49ers wide receiver. Aside from tearing a ligament in his knee late in the 2010 season with Cincinnati, Owens has also had his fair share of off-field issues.
So far, he appeared on the Dr. Phil show to talk about some "baby mama drama" he has been having. Apparently, a number of women claim that Owens hasn't been paying the exorbitant amount of child support that he has been ordered to pay. He has also been released from his duties with the Allen Wranglers, an IFL team, due to no-shows at public events and games. It appears that those two instances are colliding again which could get T.O. into a heap of legal trouble.
According to WSB-TV in Atlanta, Owens is $20,000 behind in his child support payments to Melanie Smith, a woman who mothered one of his children. On top of that, Owens failed to appear at a court date recently and now could be looking at jail time if he doesn't start turning things around. Unfortunately, T.O. continues to be a cautionary tale for many young NFL players. Maybe that's why he was recently invited to speak at this year's Rookie Symposium.
Yahoo! Sports' Doug Farrar recently caught up with Owens and though he didn't talk about this legal situation or his financial status, he did talk about still possibly making a comeback to the NFL. He still is a longshot to come back at 38 years old and not playing in the league since 2010, but the possibility remains. Owens said:
"My numbers speak for themselves," he added. "It's not a matter of performance, I think everyone saw that my last year in Cincinnati. Once I get on the field I play football, everything else is out the window."
Aside from age and attitude, NFL teams shied away from signing Owens in 2011 because of a knee injury that he was rehabbing. That appears to be healed, but his body is another year older. There's a small possibility that a team could sign him for a minimal deal, laden with incentives because of his ability to sell tickets. Though we doubt that he'll be in the NFL in 2012, we hope that he lands somewhere so that he can get a paycheck to help remedy his off-field situations.