NFL Network carried Terrell Owens’ workout live on Tuesday afternoon, and Owens had better hope some NFL front office personnel were watching, because no teams were there.
Linday Soto was live on the scene and reported that no teams were confirmed to be in attendance, and that there wasn’t a single team’s scout in the area “unless somebody snuck in and isn’t wearing team gear.” The workout took place on a high school field in Calabasas, California, and the stands were empty.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean no one is interested in Owens. Coaches, general managers and scouts may have watched the workout on TV, and teams bring in veteran free agents for workouts all the time, so it’s entirely possible that Owens will still get an individual workout.
Owens started the workout wearing a shirt reading “I Am” on the front and “Ready” on the back, then took the shirt off to reveal his chiseled upper body. Although there was no 40-yard dash in the workout, Owens ran pass routes and did agility tests and appeared capable of running and cutting without any problems with his surgically repaired knee.
However, being able to run and cut on a field all by himself is quite a bit different from being able to perform on an NFL field on Sundays. And there are some questions about whether Owens is really ready to compete.
Owens’ former teammate Jerry Rice said on ESPN that Owens looked like “He’s just not in football shape.” And NFL Network’s Charles Davis said Owens seemed tentative in his movement, as if he wasn’t sure whether he could trust his knee.
So Owens’ public workout may not have told us much of anything. The big question now is whether any team will bring him in for a workout without the cameras rolling.