Terrell Owens last played in an NFL regular-season game for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010. A year before, playing for the Buffalo Bills, he proved he could still play at a high clip. Now, more than a decade after Owens hung up his cleats, he is alleging that the circumstances forced him to make that decision.

“I was still playing at a high level,” Owens said on the Get To The Point Podcast. “It was things outside of my physical abilities that prevented me from playing. You know what I mean? It was more political stuff because, even in my last two years, they weren’t looking for me to even really contribute, and I outplayed both starting receivers the last two teams that I played for.

“[Chad Johnson] Ocho, and [Tyler] Boyd in Cincinnati and Lee Evans in Buffalo. And then management had the nerve to tell me from the beginning before I even signed like, well, we can’t guarantee him a starting spot.”

Back on December 19, 2010, Owens left the game with a knee injury. It was later diagnosed as a season-ending meniscus tear. But by that time, he had recorded 72 catches for 983 yards and nine scores. In the same season, then-Cincinnati starter Johnson would rack up 831 yards and 67 receptions.

Cincinnati went on to finish last in the AFC North that year, dropping to 4-12 after going 10-6 in 2009. But Owens, already having built himself a reputation of not shying away from the truth, had pinned some of the blame on the Bengals’ coaching staff.

“I think there’s underachieving from the top down,” Owens said. “You start with the owner, you start with the coaches. And obviously we as players, we are a product of what the coaches are coaching us throughout the course of the week.

“Of course, we have to go out there and play the game. But in order for us to do what we’re allowed to do at the best of our abilities, the coaches have to put the players in the best position.”

Cincinnati did not re-sign Owens for 2011. He’d held a televised workout too, but no NFL teams attended. Owens did secure a spot on the Seattle Seahawks’ roster in 2012, but he was released before the regular season opener. Since then, the veteran wide receiver has appeared in flag football leagues and in the CFL. In 2022, at age

Owens’ performance against the Chicago Bears while suiting up for the San Francisco 49ers is a great example of what he was truly capable of. He posted 20 receptions and 283 yards, setting an NFL record at the time. He’d led the Bills with 829 yards despite suffering due to bad quarterback play in 2009 when he was 36 years old. However, Cincinnati parted ways with him after 2010.

There was also the issue of Terrell Owens’ attitude with teams. He was infamously suspended by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005 for bad conduct, after a great statistical year with the team in 2004. The Eagles also released him in 2006. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco wrote that this eventually became a pattern concerning enough for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which did not occur until 2018, three years after he was eligible.

“The problem with Owens is that five teams got tremendous statistical production out of him in his prime but ultimately decided they were better off without him,” he wrote.

Owens chose not to attend the ceremony at Canton, claiming he was disrespected by the media. At the time of his retirement, Owens had the second-most receiving yards in NFL history and the third-most receiving touchdowns.

At the end of the day, being sidelined when he still had the potential stings Owens after all this time.