Proof Terrell Owens Is Being Frozen Out of Pro Football Hall of Fame

Terrell Owens wasn’t the most pleasant human being, but the highlights and numbers show he was one of the greatest receivers in NFL history.

Lawrence Taylor was a drug addict among other things off the field and isn’t even in the top 10 in all-time quarterback sacks. Yet nobody questioned the fact that he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Doesn’t that seem like a double standard to some people? That maybe because Owens’ personality quirks came during an era of much greater media exposure that he’s unfairly treated when it comes to his own enshrinement?

Based on some of the reasons given by voters for keeping him out, it’s hard not to think that.

Ron Borges of the Boston Herald attempted to defend the decision not to induct Owens for a second-straight season. He cited other notable receivers like Michael Irvin, Cris Carter and Art Monk as perfect examples of great receivers who didn’t get in until after a couple years of waiting. Even so none of them came close to the numbers Owens put up. So what was the real reason he used for not putting the receiver in?

"“Owens not only led the NFL in drops once, he finished in the top four in drops seven other seasons during his 15-year career.To help those suffering from “lazy thinking,” let me help you. That means for more than half the years he played, Terrell Owens was annually among the top four receivers in drops. Sorry, but that’s not my definition of “first-ballot Hall of Famer.”"

Listen, nobody is saying T.O. was a choir boy. Far from it. He did a lot of controversial things in his career, burned a lot of bridges and made plenty of enemies. Yet none of that erases facts. Owens is the second all-time leading receiver in NFL history. That is indisputable. The numbers say so. He dominant defenses despite playing for three different teams and not having a Hall of Fame quarterback most of his career.

Sure drops are a polarizing stat for receivers and can make a guy look foolish, but that’s hardly a compelling argument when it comes to judging whether or not a player was great. Love him, hate him or utterly despite him there is no disputing what the tape shows. At his peak Owens was almost uncoverable as a receiver. Quarterbacks knew it. That’s why they threw him the ball so often. According to Pro-Football-Reference he was targeted a total of 1,968 times in his career.

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It’s basic human nature that he’ll drop some of them. If that happened a lot and he didn’t play well then it would definitely matter. However, he once had four drops in a playoff game and caught the game-winning pass as time expired to get the win. It seems rather petty and nitpicking for voters to use something like drops as a reason for keep Owens out of Canton.