Terrell Owens should be in the Hall of Fame no matter how many teams he played for

Terrell Owens will not be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. To many people, that seems absurd. Yet, several Hall of Fame voters have defended their perspectives against Owens’ candidacy. Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News is the latest to explain why he didn’t vote for Owens’ induction: Because the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys didn’t want to stick with the wide receiver.

Carucci thinks Owens’ reputation as a journeyman overshadows his production on the field. Carucci says, though, that the perspectives of the media should matter less than Hall of Famers’ opinions on Owens’ candidacy.

“I’m inclined to place a bit more weight on this feedback because the Hall of Fame belongs to them, not to me or any of the 45 other media members who comprise the group of selectors,” Carucci said.

Only two Hall of Famers voted on the slate of candidates this year, and they fall on opposite sides of the argument.

Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts did not vote for Owens.

“I think his actions on and off the field, on the sidelines, in the locker room, and the fact he played for so many teams and was such a great player,” Fouts said during a radio appearance on Nashville’s The Midday 180, “the question that comes back to me is if he was such a great player, why did so many of those teams get rid of him?”

Owens’ antics are as memorable as his play. His touchdown celebrations were varied and entertaining, from eating a fan’s popcorn to pulling a Sharpie out of his sock to autograph the ball for a fan. Some of his off-field incidents were more troubling, like the time he overdosed on hydrocodone, or when he spit in DeAngelo Williams’ face during a game.

Former wide receiver James Lofton, also a Hall of Famer, disagreed with Fouts about Owens’ candidacy.

“There’s no reality there,” Lofton said on Sirius XM Radio. “Maybe the last couple of weeks or the last half of the last season (they wanted to get rid of him), maybe. But he was a pretty good teammate. They like the way he played.”

Owens’ 15,934 career receiving yards place him behind only Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. Rice and Randy Moss, two of the greatest wide receivers in the history of the NFL, are the only players with more receiving touchdowns than Owens.

And yes, Owens put up those numbers over the course of 15 years and with five different teams. Rice played for three teams over his entire career.

But this idea that teams wanted to jettison Owens is a flimsy argument. Owens spent eight seasons in San Francisco. That seems like a lot of time to invest in a player the team was eager to move on from.

Steve Mariucci was Owens’ coach with the Niners for six seasons, and he believes Owens should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“He’s got the numbers and the career that says he should be in,” Mariucci said, via NJ Advance Media. “I thought he might get in last year. Some voters didn’t think that way, I guess. They seemed to want to make him wait. I think he’s waited long enough. Let’s go. He should be in.”

After Mariucci was fired, the 49ers finished the following season 7-9, and Owens wanted out. A dispute with the team about whether or not his agent had taken the proper steps to void Owens’ contract led to the Niners trying to trade Owens to the Ravens.

Owens landed in Philadelphia with the Eagles and stayed there for two years, including a Super Bowl XXXIX appearance following the 2004 season. Owens broke his ankle in Week 15, and his first game back was the Super Bowl. He finished that game with nine catches for 122 yards.

Owens’ contract with the Eagles was for seven years and $49 million, but it was back-loaded. He made over $8.8 million in his first season, but the payout dropped to just over $2.7 million in year two, and Owens was dissatisfied. He hired Drew Rosenhaus and made it clear he wanted a new deal. The Eagles didn’t want to renegotiate, so Philadelphia released him.

Jerry Jones signed Owens to a three-year, $25 million deal, and Owens remained with the Cowboys for three seasons. The Cowboys released Owens following the 2008 season, but Jones still thinks Owens should be in the Hall of Fame.

“He made serious contributions with us and his team involvement with us does not deserve to have it be a negative for him being in the Hall of Fame,” Jones said, via David Moore of the Dallas News. “He was a plus for the Dallas Cowboys.”

Bill Parcells, Owens’ coach in Dallas, wouldn’t even refer to Owens by his name, according to Jones. He simply called Owens “the player.”

But Parcells also sees Owens’ production as validation that he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

“He certainly was highly productive,” Parcells said, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “He was highly productive and did some very remarkable things on the field. He also came with some other things that you had to deal with. And sometimes they weren’t always pleasant for some of the places that he was. But that being said, it’s a production business and he did produce at an extremely high level.”

Lofton said Owens’ performance on the field justifies his inclusion.

“I saw a special and great player when I watched him,” Lofton said. “He is a Hall of Famer in my book.”

For now, the majority of Hall of Fame voters disagree with Lofton, but perhaps in the future voters will look past this flawed argument and vote based on Owens’ performance. His career justifies his inclusion in the Hall of Fame.