Less than one month after being signed by the Seattle Seahawks, Terrell Owens has been released and is a free agent once again. The wide receiver announced his new free agency via his Twitter account:
I’m no longer a Seahawk. I THANK the organization 4 the opportunity, I’m truly blessed beyond belief. My FAITH is intact & will NOT waiver.
— Terrell Owens (@terrellowens) August 26, 2012
Even though they didn’t believe Owens was right for the pared-down Seahawks roster, the organization had nothing but praise for the player. Coach Pete Carroll said on the Seahawks blog that Owens can still “run real fast” and that he could still make plays. From the blog post:
“I think he’s an extraordinary guy. He was fantastic with our players. Everybody liked him. He worked hard and got along with everybody. I think he’s uniquely gifted in how he sees the world. He’s been through so much. Few people would be able to understand what he carries with him from his past. Now he is a changed guy, in a sense that he wants to do something really special in these last couple years of his career. I think he’ll do that wherever he winds up.”
Owens’ release was part of a league-mandated roster-reduction to 75 players. Carroll said he thought there simply wasn’t enough time for Owens “to really get established for us in a way that it made sense to keep him. The Seahawks blog post also mentions that Owens’ increasing age (he’s 38) and being away from the NFL for two years meant he was put into an “unfamiliar situation.” Carroll again, from the blog post:
“We really like the group that we’ve assembled,” Carroll said of the wide receivers. “Terrell came in here and busted his tail. He looked really effective right from the start. But as we just took a look at our guys that have come through the program and the guys that are growing up with us, we just thought it would best for us to stay with those guys.”