Seattle Seahawks: Why We Can Expect Success from Terrell Owens in 2012

He might as well have staged a media conference saying, "I'm back." After all, we never thought we'd see the likes of Terrell Owens in a Seattle Seahawks uniform, right? 

The artist formerly known as "T.O." has really given credence to the notion that giving NFL players free time is a bad thing. He had another suicide attempt. He fell behind on child support payments. He was a part-owner on the Allen Wranglers, an IFL team you've never heard of, and still got cut by them.

It got to a point where one might think that these embarrassing actions may have to cause him to wait longer to get into the Hall of Fame, despite his career encompassing 153 receiving touchdowns, 15,934 yards on 1,078 receptions. According to Pro-Football-Reference, he's second, second and sixth all-time in those categories.

I want to see success for T.O.; I really do. This series of incidents even led to him awkwardly praising Jerry Jones in public, almost as if to put pressure on Jones to give his former star another chance.

When he had that workout and nobody showed up, we all thought he was done. No matter what anyone had to say about this guy and how awful of a teammate he was, it was sad to see this treatment for someone who was actually still in very good shape and actually had a productive season in the NFL the last time we saw him.

And for a team that was just desperate enough to sign another troubled receiver in Braylon Edwards and has a quarterback controversy, you'd have to think Owens is going to have a chance to be the first, or at least second receiver, right?

Historically, Seattle hasn't had a lot of good luck with that.

The cautionary tales of Sidney Rice, TJ Houshmandzadeh, and Nate Burleson all serve to remind us that the Seahawks typically haven't had great success with free-agent wideouts. Each got paid more than $40 million for five years to be the future franchise receiver for Seattle (the jury is still out on Rice).

Owens is on a one-year contract not even worth $1 million. You can't even say he's going to give it his all because he "has something to prove." It's more like a survival thing. Without this, what would happen to him? He might end up in jail for the child support payments? Who knows with this guy?

What I do know is that when he's on the field, he's always brought something to it.

For all the perceived trouble Owens brings, there's no doubt in my mind that even at his advanced age, he still brings something to the table. He's always been known for pushing young wideouts, like he'll do with Golden Tate. He's always paid intense attention to detail in route-running.

From watching T.O., you'd think he's a lazy player, but in fact, he was one of the hardest workers at his position anyone had ever seen. Save for the freak athleticism he had when he was younger, he still runs precise routes and has great ball skills, despite his occasionally questionable hands.

Terrell Owens once stated that he was "in hell" when he was broke and had no job. He could've stayed there and gotten the stuffing kicked out of him, or he could fight his way back to the light. Oddly enough, this might be the first time in NFL history that a receiver signing with the Seahawks qualifies as him inching out of hell, and not falling into it.