Hall of Famer Terrell Owens Says Tom Brady Ignored His Offer to Play for the Bucs

Terrell Owens in 2018
Terrell Owens at the NFL Raiders vs 49ers game in 2018. Photo by Thurman James/CSM/REX/Shutterstock (9955649ax)

Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens was ready to return to the NFL in 2021 at the age of 48 and play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the franchise cut ties with Antonio Brown. However, according to Owens, then-Bucs quarterback Tom Brady wasn’t interested in taking up on his offer.

During a recent appearance on The Bubba Dub Show, Owens said that he reached out to Brady to offer his services towards the end of the 2021 campaign. He intended to have a situational role and hoped to fill out the void at the wideout position left by Brown’s exit. But it turned out Brady wasn’t interested in making that happen.

“Tom Brady ignored me,” said Owens.  “It was at the end of the season. I didn’t need to play a full season, and they just needed somebody to fill some holes with AB leaving at the receiver position. I reached out to him through Randy [Moss] and some other people just to come in and play third down and red zone situations. You know this dude really ignored me. It just shows you the lack of respect there, but then when they get in front of you they want to act like they respect you.”

Owens probably believed that he could make a meaningful contribution to the Bucs’ 2021 playoff run, which ended in the Divisional Playoffs. However, it is easy to see why Brady didn’t take his offer seriously, as Owens was already more than a decade removed from his last NFL game at the time.

Owens previously indicated that he was looking to play in the NFL in 2022 as well, having contacts with the Dallas Cowboys, but the move didn’t materialize.

Gunner's favorite movies are Pulp Fiction, Iron Man (just the first one), and every James Bond film ever made. He's learning TV and cinema and hoping to always enjoy movies as he does now.