Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago
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Updated: April 20, 2010, 7:42 PM ET
Sources: McNabb open to T.O. in D.C. 
ESPN

Washington Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb has encouraged the team's coaching staff to consider signing free-agent wide receiver Terrell Owens, despite the acrimony that marked their time as Philadelphia Eagles teammates, according to multiple sources.

Coach Mike Shanahan said the Redskins are not actively pursuing Owens. A team source said the Redskins have made upgrading their wide receiver position a high priority but prefer to avoid bringing Owens into their locker room if another solution can be found.

On Tuesday, McNabb denied approaching the Redskins about his former teammate, but multiple sources confirmed the subject has been discussed.

"I never said that to anyone about T.O. It's just not true," McNabb said in a phone conversation with ESPN's Rachel Nichols. "I'm in a new place, trying to get comfortable, not start anything or push for anything. I am very happy with the receivers I have."

A source close to McNabb said the quarterback and Owens recently talked about the possibility of reuniting while shooting an episode for the television show "Pros vs. Joes" in Los Angeles. The episode, schedule to air in July, features McNabb and Owens playing on the same basketball team.

Whatever potential there is for a McNabb-Owens reunion would serve to further heighten interest this year in the two regular-season games between the NFC East rival Redskins and Eagles. At their pinnacle, McNabb and Owens were Super Bowl teammates; in the end, Owens hinted vaguely that McNabb suffered a failure of nerve that cost Philadelphia a Super Bowl ring and suggested the quarterback contributed to the Eagles releasing him.

Owens spent the 2009 season with the Buffalo Bills, the fourth team of his NFL career, finishing with the worst stats of his career as a starter.

Although Owens is widely viewed as a player in decline, Shanahan's first minicamp with the Redskins provided some insight into the Redskins' concerns at that position. Veterans Jerry Porter and Marques Hagans participated, and the team on Monday signed Hagans and Roydell Williams, who hasn't played since 2007 with the Tennessee Titans.

The Redskins are a four-win team with limited resources to acquire talent in this week's NFL draft. Trading a second-round pick to the NFC East rival Eagles for McNabb left the Redskins with an NFL-low four picks.

The Redskins have the No. 4 overall pick on Thursday, and Shanahan and Redskins general manager Bruce Allen will have to get creative to improve their roster. There is potential for the team to trade the fourth pick, defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth and former starting quarterback Jason Campbell, which could open the door for them to sign Owens.

While with the Denver Broncos, Shanahan was among the few coaches interested in signing Owens after the Eagles released the receiver. The two met and Shanahan was willing to offer him a contract.

But Shanahan was wary of Owens' problems with his two previous teams and wanted to structure the deal with limited guaranteed money so that the team could financially control his behavior if necessary. Shanahan considered it an enormous mistake when the Dallas Cowboys provided Owens with a contract that included significant upfront guaranteed money.

Owens has a history of toxic relationships with all of his former quarterbacks, and McNabb was a central figure in one of them, according to Owens' 2006 autobiography, "TO."

With the Eagles cruising along with a 10-1 record in 2004, Owens became increasingly unhappy because McNabb refused to constantly feed him the ball, or simply misjudged where to throw the football -- depending on one's interpretation of events.

On Nov. 28, 2004, at Giants Stadium, Owens finally said something to McNabb in the huddle after a play that was designed to go to Owens but resulted in a short incomplete pass to a running back, according to Owens' book.

Owens wrote that he said, "I was open. Dude, you missed me."

McNabb's reply, according to Owens, was "shut the [bleep] up."

Owens wrote that he was deeply offended by what McNabb said. "I felt like he had no right to talk to me that way," Owens wrote. "After what happened on the play and in the huddle, I began to think that maybe he didn't want a co-host and maybe he didn't like me getting more attention."

From that point on, McNabb and Owens barely spoke to each other -- for the remainder of the 2004 season, throughout the playoffs while Owens was injured and in rehab for a broken leg, and in Jacksonville, Fla., for Super Bowl XXXIX against the New England Patriots.

In spring 2005, Owens refused to go to camp, demanding the Eagles redo his seven-year contract. He lashed out at McNabb, primarily because the leader of the team refused to come to his aid for more cash. Owens also told ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli, "I wasn't the guy who got tired in the Super Bowl."

After a summer of dysfunction, the 2005 season devolved into a divided locker room that culminated in a fight between Owens and retired defensive end Hugh Douglas, whom coach Andy Reid had just named "team ambassador."

After the fight, on Nov. 7, Reid sent Owens a letter outlining six charges against the receiver and sent Owens home for the remainder of the season. Owens filed a grievance with the players' union and the hearing was scheduled for Nov. 18 at the Marriott.

"[Andy Reid] ended the conversation by telling me to stay by the phone and he would call me back. He called back about an hour later. I don't know who he spoke to, but somebody killed it."

Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter was among those players who did not want to see Owens go. Owens glances over this fact in the book, but anybody who was around the team then knows that there was deep resentment -- some of it not too hidden -- toward McNabb about the way he was treating Owens.

On that team, McNabb was viewed as an extension of Reid, in terms of management, and Trotter and many others had seen the callousness of the front office when it came to contract renegotiations.

During the Super Bowl in Detroit, McNabb claimed in an interview with ESPN's Michael Smith that what Owens did to him amounted to "black-on-black" crime.

But McNabb said something else to Smith that may be far more telling about the dynamics within the Eagles' locker room back then.

"It put something in the back of my mind that you really learn a lot about people when things aren't going good," McNabb told Smith. "Comments, answers to questions, reactions -- you learn about people. I'm not here to call players out. They know who they are. That nobody really came to my defense, that showed me something."

Ed Werder is an ESPN NFL reporter. ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio and ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen contributed to this report.


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Pack93z
15 years ago
Today.. reports are coming out that McNabb is denying this... whatever.

TO's window of a consistent receiving threat has passed.. he might want to get himself some popcorn ready for this season. 😉
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago
He denies it in the article I posted too. 🙂 As the headline says, it's all according to sources.
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Pack93z
15 years ago
Guilty of not reading that article.. just the headline.. that is how high either of them rank on my importance scale. ;)

You have an over-rated QB and a brash "cockier than talented" WR whom can't find a job.

I like McNabb the person.. just think may praise him as a QB to heavily.
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
Zero2Cool
15 years ago
I do find it funny that Owens still has not landed with anyone.
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Fan Shout
Mucky Tundra (8h) : I could feel my body decomposing in real time when I read that
Mucky Tundra (8h) : @MIKEYSAINRISTIL Tyler Shough will officially be the last person drafted to the NFL born in the 1900’s
Mucky Tundra (18h) : saw the tweet, he meant the city
Mucky Tundra (18h) : Was that for the team or the city?
Zero2Cool (18h) : Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter · 3m Draft grade is in: Green Bay gets an A. The people, the city, the venue were all superb. NFL Draft’s next
Zero2Cool (18h) : Matt LaFleur says Jaire Alexander is participating in #Packers offseason program, which has been conducted virtually during this first week
Zero2Cool (18h) : ✅ ...
buckeyepackfan (19h) : Check
Zero2Cool (21h) : Matthew Golden cahanged 81 to 22??
TheKanataThrilla (23h) : Sam Howell to Vikings...guess no Aaron
Martha Careful (26-Apr) : 1 round 7 min, with one extra minute if there is a trade. 2nd round 4 minutes, 3rd -3, 2 thereafter IMO
Martha Careful (26-Apr) : Agree
dfosterf (26-Apr) : Great idea imo
dfosterf (26-Apr) : 1st round to 7 minutes with one extension
dfosterf (26-Apr) : NFL comissioner wants to shorten the 2st
Mucky Tundra (26-Apr) : @jalenreagors They’re discussing if Sheduer can go back to college on NFL Network LMFAOOOOO
beast (26-Apr) : Great point Martha
beast (26-Apr) : Buddy Ryan used to say if a candy bar goes missing, there are two to blame, Rex and Rob 🤪 jk 😁
Martha Careful (26-Apr) : Bum Phillips used to say there are two ways to get better. Get better players or get players to play better. We have a new DL coach
Zero2Cool (26-Apr) : Yes. Look at the losses last year. They can win.
beast (26-Apr) : Can Packers win with their current DL?
bboystyle (26-Apr) : waiting for a pass rusher.
dfosterf (25-Apr) : 5 minutes between picks in the 3rd
dfosterf (25-Apr) : 3rd. Hate this phone
dfosterf (25-Apr) : 4rd
dfosterf (25-Apr) : 5 minutes in the 4
dfosterf (25-Apr) : 7 minutes between picks in the 2nd round
Martha Careful (25-Apr) : Sorry to bitch, but the headline writers in that section absolutely mislead, or don't know how to read. It is maddening
Martha Careful (25-Apr) : No thanks. Not a dependable guy to be in the right place and run the right route. Dumb as a box of rocks.
Zero2Cool (25-Apr) : Losing 2nd round pick for a one year rental, not ideal. Especially a headcase.
TheKanataThrilla (25-Apr) : Pickens for Jaire may be interesting. Definitely not sure we want Pickens long term.
dfosterf (25-Apr) : No.Absolutely not
Zero2Cool (25-Apr) : NO NO NO NO NO NO!!1 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
dhazer (25-Apr) : scenario: Our main prospects are off the board when our pick comes around, do we just throw a 2nd round pick at Pittsburgh for Pickens
TheKanataThrilla (25-Apr) : Hopefully she had some comfort that her son will be live his dream when she passed away. Sad news.
Mucky Tundra (25-Apr) : Damn that sucks
Zero2Cool (25-Apr) : News about Derrick Harmon mom, saddening.
Zero2Cool (25-Apr) : Mark Murphy: "I predict we will trade up once and down twice."
beast (25-Apr) : Rip the Packers and getting the fans yelling and booing him
beast (25-Apr) : Super competitive Bears fan and WWE "superstar" wrestler, Seth Rollins is supposed to announce a Bears pick and absolutely rip Packers
packerfanoutwest (25-Apr) : Golden
beast (25-Apr) : I want DT Derrick Harmon, Oregon
Mucky Tundra (25-Apr) : And I can't be looking at my phone
Mucky Tundra (25-Apr) : Hey I'm at work lol
Zero2Cool (24-Apr) : btw, new site chat won't delete auto like
Zero2Cool (24-Apr) : because everyone left like wimps
TheKanataThrilla (24-Apr) : I am wondering if there is some type of autoclear when there isn't activity after a certain amount of time.
Mucky Tundra (24-Apr) : What happened in the chat? Me and Zero posted a few things earlier and they're all gone
dfosterf (24-Apr) : 10-15 min bs plus flyover
dfosterf (24-Apr) : Yes
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