The case for signing Terrell Owens I know a lot of Bucs fans are very much against us signing Terrell Owens but I am not one of them. Yes, he is an arrogant jerk but there is no doubt he is one hell of a player and if not the best, certainly one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Yes he made a lot of mistakes in Philadelphia and deserved to be suspended, but the way the Philadelphia Eagles acted was almost as bad. They have come across as a really classless organization and Donovan Mcnabb comes across as just a big a jerk as Owens with some of the things he has been saying recently. It was so nice seeing the Eagles fall apart this season and hopefully it will be a long time until they are a force again. Signing him would be a bit of a gamble but maybe a gamble worth taking. I know the Keyshawn Johnson episode of two years ago is still fresh in everyone’s memories but even Terrell Owens is nowhere near the jerk that Keyshawn Johnson is and Owens is twice the player Johnson will ever be. We saw last season how badly the Bucs needed a top quality wide receiver, especially in the play off game against the Redskins. Yes, Joey Galloway had a great season, but he was the only real threat at wide receiver and next year he will be 35 and unlikely to have another season like he had in 2005. Michael Clayton will hopefully be better next season but that is not certain after the disastrous one he has just had. Signing Owens would take off some of the pressure from Galloway and maybe also give Clayton a chance to shine. The Bucs had a great season in 2005 and winning the NFC South was a remarkable achievement considering even the most optimistic Bucs fan would have been hard pressed at the start of the season to see us doing any better than 8-8. We now have a young team especially on offense that can only get better and with a player of the quality of Owens, this could just be the difference from being a play-off team to being a Super Bowl team. Of course signing Terrell Owens isn’t that straight forward. For a start other teams are chasing him and there is a thing called the salary cap that will not make things easy but hopefully this can be worked around. After the way Owens acted at in Philadelphia he can’t expect as much money as he was on there, nor a long-term contract. He also must know that if he messes up again that will be the end of his NFL career and he would be lucky to get a game in the Arena League. Signing for the Bucs I am sure will appeal to Owens, as we are an up and coming team and playing and living in Florida is bound to appeal to any athlete. So if the Bucs are serious about signing him, then we will be one of the front runners in getting him to play in Tampa next season. Paul Greenfield, February 2006