Sunday, February 03, 2002
TERRELL OWENS
Will next week's Pro Bowl be our last chance to see the Garcia to Owens combo? Terrell has said he would have been happy to have been placed on the expansion draft list. He's been whining and complaining for most of the season with no signs of stopping in the off-season. A trade may be the only answer, but the 49ers need to be careful. I have too many bad memories of the Charles Haley trade. When he was traded to the Cowboys, they immediately became Superbowl contenders, and Charles wreaked havok on the 49ers every time the two teams played.
There is a distinct difference from the athlete of yesterday and the athlete of today. Take Jerry Rice as an example. Rice could have his moments of outburst, but it wasn't constant, and you always new that he had the team's best interest at heart. With Owens, you get the feeling that all he thinks about is himself and his own statistics. I call it the Ricky Watters syndrome. The 49ers got tired of Watters' act and let him sign with Philadelphia. With both the Eagles and Seahawks, he has had to share time at halfback and has barely sniffed the playoffs. Do you get the feeling he realized that the grass isn't always greener on the other side?
Owens is arguably the best player on the 49ers, so they must be careful no matter what they do. If they have to trade him, they have to get good value and they have to send him somewhere where he won't come back and hurt them. They will also need to find one or two blue chip receivers to replace him. A deal with the new Texans franchise woudn't be a bad place to start. Perhaps they could pick up the first pick in the draft where they could get a new reciever.
One thing is for sure, doing nothing has its own risks. Owens may not have affected the chemistry of the team this year, but his antics are bound to degrade things in the near future. It's just to bad he doesn't have the maturity to see how good he really has it.
Junior Bro 9:22:00 PM
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