Terrell Owens: I tried to come out of retirement with the Bucs, Tom Brady disrespected me

When Antonio Brown abruptly left the Buccaneers during the 2021 season, they could have used a veteran wide receiver for the playoffs. And Terrell Owens wrote on social media at the time that he was that wide receiver. Two and a half years later, Owens is blaming Tom Brady for the Bucs not signing him.

Owens said on the Bubba Dub Show that he attempted to contact Brady to ask for a chance to play for the Bucs in the playoffs, and Brady ignored him.

“Tom Brady ignored me,” Owens said. “The year that AB went crazy . . . they just needed somebody to fill some holes with AB leaving at the receiver position. I reached out to him through Randy and some other people, just to come in and play third down and red zone situations. This dude 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.”

At the time, Owens was 48 years old and hadn’t played in the NFL since he was cut after three weeks of training camp with the Seahawks a decade earlier. It’s probably less that Brady didn’t respect Owens’ achievements as a former NFL receiver, than that Brady didn’t want to waste time during playoff preparation talking to someone who had zero chance of making the roster.