Associated Press
Associated Press
RENTON, Wash. — Terrell Owens is coming back to the NFL after one year on the sidelines.
The 38-year-old Owens had a tryout with the Seattle Seahawks on Monday, and hours later the team announced it had agreed to terms with the former star receiver. He hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2010 season with Cincinnati, when he caught 72 passes for 983 yards and nine touchdowns.
He then had surgery on his left knee and didn’t receive any offers to play last season.
Owens had 35 catches for 420 yards and 10 touchdowns while playing eight of 11 games for the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League. He was released and lost an ownership stake in the team in May.
Owens, a third-round draft choice by San Francisco in 1996, has started 201 of the 219 regular-season NFL games he has played. He has 1,078 receptions for 15,934 yards and 153 touchdowns — the second most in league history.
His nine seasons with at least 1,000 yards receiving and 13 years with at least 50 catches rank third. His total receptions are sixth on the NFL career list.
Owens spent eight seasons with San Francisco, two with Philadelphia, and three with Dallas before a pair of one-year stints with Buffalo and Cincinnati.
JETS
CORTLAND, N.Y. — Tebowmania turned into Wrestlemania for the New York Jets during one big training camp throwdown.
About 20 players were involved in a brief brawl during a chippy practice Monday after running back Joe McKnight and safety D’Anton Lynn tangled after a play.
Lynn, the son of Jets running backs coach Anthony Lynn, shoved McKnight out of bounds after a handoff from Greg McElroy. An angry McKnight then fired the football at Lynn.
“That was a first,” Lynn said. “That’s never happened to me before, so I lost my temper for a second.”
The two got into it, with McKnight charging Lynn and throwing a punch that didn’t land. Lynn then pushed McKnight — with help from cornerbacks Julian Posey and Donnie Fletcher — and all four went rolling through advertisement placards and into an area where reporters were watching practice.
“If you’re fighting, I mean, are you going to just love-tap him?” McKnight said. “I mean, you’re going to try to hit him. It’s a fight.”
Offensive and defensive players ran over to their tussling teammates and a pileup ensued. Several reporters scattered as the players jumped on each other and wrestled a few feet in front of a barricade where fans sit.
Coach Rex Ryan, along with several players, including Tim Tebow, ran over to break things up.
“I felt like I could hardly breathe,” said Lynn, an undrafted free agent from Penn State. “Everyone was on top of me, so I had to get out of there.”
Meanwhile, several other players jokingly acted as if they were taking swings at each other.
“As far as it being a melee, I don’t see that,” Ryan said in a statement issued by the team. “Now, it is a first — I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sign get knocked over in a fight because it happened on the sideline, but it wasn’t a melee. Guys weren’t throwing helmets.”
McKnight said Ryan told him: “Keep playing hard.”
It all lasted about a minute, and the Jets (No. 17 in the AP Pro32) went back to team drills as if nothing happened — with none of the players suffering any apparent injuries.
“Sometimes, offense and defense, you’re out there competing and sometimes fights happen,” Lynn said. “It’s nothing personal.”
The two said they would talk to each other, and things would be smoothed over.
Coach hit
DALTON, Ga. — The rule for the Falcons-Titans combined practice was no tackling to the ground.
Tell that to Falcons coach Mike Smith, who took the biggest hit of the day.
Smith was leveled early in Monday’s practice as he stood on the Falcons logo painted on the 50-yard line of the Coahulla Creek High School field. He was hit by Atlanta receiver Drew Davis, who was working against Titans cornerback Chris Hawkins.
Smith landed hard but bounced up quickly, readjusting his white Falcons cap.
Asked after the practice if he was OK, a smiling Smith had a quick answer.
“You might want to check Andrew Davis and see how he’s feeling, OK?” Smith said.
Smith said he knew he had to return to his feet quickly. Davis extended his hand to offer assistance, but instead Smith pushed himself off the ground.
“You don’t ever want to stay down, that’s for darn sure,” Smith said. “You don’t want to take an eight count. We were on one field and there were a lot of things going on and I ended up taking one in the back. It’s all good.”
Each coach was happy there were no altercations between the teams.
“Coach Smith and I talked with them about that,” Titans coach Mike Munchak said. “No one is going to make the team because they got in a fight. We can still compete at a high level without fighting and pushing and shoving.
“This is more about getting better and competing, and I think you saw that with both teams.”
The coaches said the practice provided a needed change of pace before the first preseason games this week.
The Falcons open their preseason schedule on Thursday night when they host the Baltimore Ravens. The Titans play at Seattle on Saturday night.
Smith gave quarterback Matt Ryan and his starters extended playing time in Monday’s controlled environment because they probably won’t see much action against the Ravens.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to work our first teams,” Smith said. “That was our philosophy. We wanted to get some good work with our first units because historically they don’t play a whole lot in the first preseason game. We have our first game coming up on Thursday and a lot of the younger guys are going to get a lot of snaps.”