Get Ya Popcorn Ready!

Nick Creegan

Terrell Owens said in an interview on Wednesday that he plans on playing football, and Owens said he could be ready in a month or less.

Owens, almost 38, is coming off surgery for a torn ACL, and as talented as he is, he’s often been a sideshow who serves as a distraction for most of the teams he’s played for.

But he has always produced at a high level.

When Owens was asked what a team can expect if it signed him, he said, “They gonna get the T.O. that they expect. Don’t expect anything less. I’m not gonna waste your time, so I wouldn’t expect you to waste my time. When I step on the field, you know what you gonna get.”

T.O. is definitely onto something here. An NFL team that has playoff aspirations should take a gamble and sign this guy. What do they have to lose?

Nothing.

If he’s 100-percent healthy, he can still be productive — not a difference-maker, per se, but still productive. With the Cincinnati Bengals last season, he had 983 receiving yards and scored nine touchdowns.

So if a team signs him, a coach could be looking at 550-600 yards and seven touchdowns with what remains of the 2011 season, assuming T.O. learns the offense quickly.

If everything had gone as planned and he’d been healthy to start the season, you'd easily be looking at 50-to-60 catches, 1,000 yards and eight-10 TDs. Owens has done that everywhere he’s gone.

Hate him or love him, the man can produce anywhere — well almost anywhere.

He can only be an asset on the right team, a team that can handle his mercurial personality.

If I were the GM on a team that needed a few offensive additions to launch it into the playoffs and had an experienced QB, I’d sign him, no doubt. Even though a team like the Vikings could use whatever help it can get, Owens and Donovan McNabb don’t work, as we all saw in Philly.

A team like the Texans with Matt Schaub behind center might, however, be a wonderful fit. Not just because Andre Johnson is hurt, but also because Owens would be a great No. 2 or No. 3 WR, along with Kevin Walter, to help take the attention off Johnson when he returns.

The Chargers also could benefit from signing T.O. in case Vincent Jackson gets hurt mid-season.

And if T.O. could somehow shut his mouth, the St. Louis Rams might also be a fit for this talent and a place where he’d be able to get the most accomplished. As anyone who follows the Rams can attest, Sam Bradford needs a dependable wide receiver — badly. Owens could give Bradford a No. 1 target.

Shoot, Jerry Rice or Cris Carter could help the receiver-challenged Rams at this point.

A talented player like T.O. can help any number of teams that need a wide receiver, and his return to the field might allow him to end his NFL career on a high note.

But at 37, he’ll have to leave all the drama behind him. If he can’t prove he has, he makes himself unmarketable to teams that might have even a slight interest in his talent.