Instant Analysis: Terrell Owens tears his ACL

Ken Kelly

owens

DLF is known for bringing you timely analysis throughout the offseason and being a consistent resource of information all year long.  News of Terrell Owens tearing his ACL brings you the first of many in the offseason “Instant Analysis” series.

Terrell Owens has always been a polarizing figure in fantasy football. 

His career numbers of 1,078 receptions, 15,934 yards and 153 touchdowns are easily enough to put him with football’s all-time elite players.  Based on statistics alone, he’s a first ballot hall of fame caliber player in reality and fantasy.

On the other hand, Owens will be better known for wearing out his welcome for virtually every team he’s played for, including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Dallas, Buffalo and Cincinnati.  His penchant for throwing his teammates and coaches under the bus is virtually unrivaled in sports.

His last season in Cincinnati was cut short by injury, but he still posted a respectable 72 receptions, 983 yards and nine scores for the Bengals in just 14 games.  Even at age 36, Owens showed he still had the ability to be a dominant player in stretches.  He was poised for another run as a one year mercenary for a team.

Now comes news from Chris Mortensen of ESPN that Owens has torn his ACL.  Reports are swirling that it happened while filming his reality show. Simply put, this is horrible news for Owens if the report is accurate.  It’s a huge blow to his future and his crumbling value in dynasty leagues.

Owens keeps himself in tremendous physical condition, but he’s 37 years old.  Father time is undefeated and it seems Owens may have finally fallen victim to his harsh cruelty. 

It sounds like a mid-November return is a best case scenario.  At that point, Owens would have to convince teams he’s healthy and he can help them win this year.  When you consider many teams will be out of the running by that point and those who aren’t will likely have a receiving corps that’s performing, it’s a tough sell.  Bringing a known locker room distraction in the fold mid-season doesn’t sound too appetizing.  I’m anxiously awaiting Drew Rosenhaus going on SportsCenter and claiming Owens will be ready by opening day and that “several teams” are already expressing interest.  Liar.

So, now what?

If you have Owens in a dynasty league, you’ve officially missed your window to sell him.  While this isn’t officially a career ending injury, it zaps a lot of the limited short term potential Owens had. 

If you’re a contending team, I’d suggest holding on to him for the moment if you have the roster space.  After all, he’s not officially done by any stretch of the imagination and putting him at the end of your bench likely won’t kill you.  Make no mistake, though.  He’s at the very end of your bench.  Cut bait if you have to, even if you’re a contender.

If you’re a rebuilding team, you should have moved him already.  If you didn’t, it’s time to sell him on the cheap or make room on your roster for a younger project.  At this point, it would be surprising to see any coaches in your league give you anything more than a late round rookie pick for him.  Go to the contenders and cross your fingers that you can get some type of value in the form of a deep prospect or late round future rookie pick.

With most news in the offseason, the effect trickles down to other players.  With Owens being a free agent, it doesn’t really change anything on any specific teams.  However, keep in mind that Plaxico Burress and Randy Moss just had more obstacle moved out of the way of them signing on with a team when the lockout ends – it’s certainly not a bad thing for them.

Let’s hope we haven’t seen the end of Owens.  Having a league without Brett Favre or Terrell Owens is just a little less entertaining.

ken kelly