Prior to Terrell Owens' inclusion in the NFL Hall of Fame's Class of 2018, the wide receiver's candidacy was largely clouded with questions about his attitude and behavior, despite putting up undeniably impressive career numbers.
His third year on the ballot proved to be the one that sealed the deal, and the testimony of one former teammate in particular may have had a lot to do with that.
As this year's candidates were being considered, Hall of Fame voters were given an 11-page document including nearly 30 testimonials from former teammates of Owens in order to vouch for him as deserving of induction, according to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports, who is also a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee.
One endorsement in particular came from former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia, who at times seemed to have as rocky a relationship with Owens as any other teammate.
Garcia gave permission for part of his statement to be made public, according to Maiocco, and in it he says while Owens' energy was sometimes viewed in a negative manner, his on-field production spoke the loudest.
My response to your question about Terrell Owens is that I believe he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
Personality and off-the-field reputation put aside, he was one of the most feared players at his position and was highly productive despite all of the extra attention and defensive game-planning that came his way in order to disrupt his performance.
He was one of the hardest workers on the practice field, and come game day, he always gave all that he could give, despite at times dealing with personal injury.
He was a physical beast on the field and created matchup problems in favor of our offense. The combination of size, speed, and physicality that he brought into a game made him difficult to defend.
He wore his emotions on his sleeve and sometimes that was taken in a negative way, but there's no taking away from the fact that he wanted to win badly and is near the top of every important receiving category in the history of the NFL. No matter who his QB was or what team he played for, his production was consistent and raised the standard of the position from a performance aspect.
The proof is in what he did on the field.
