It has long been rumored that receiver Terrell Owens wants $5 million in 2010. Whether that was his initial target isn’t known. But a new target is coming into view.
$3.25 million.
The number can be gleaned from T.O.'s recent comments to TMZ, in which Owens says he wants a “fair deal,” that “everything is negotiable,” that he knows what he made last year ($6.5 million), and that he’d “maybe cut that in half.”
Though TMZ continues to push Cincinnati as the ultimate destination for Owens, our guess is that the Bengals aren’t willing to pay him $3.25 million. Moreover, we’re not sure how TMZ can continue to claim that the Bengals and Owens are “very close” to a deal four days after first making that assertion, especially if -- as TMZ now acknowledges -- the two sides have yet to agree on money.
Frankly, if the two sides were indeed “very close” to a deal on Friday, it would have meant that they were “very close” to an agreement regarding money on Friday. The fact that four days have passed without a deal being done suggests that, while the Bengals obviously are interested, they’ve yet to put enough on the table to persuade T.O. to quit looking for two birds in the bush.