Why Did Dallas Cowboys Release Terrell Owens? Three Possible Reasons

Big news out of Dallas, Texas, came this morning, when the Dallas Cowboys announced the decision to release their controversial wide receiver, Terrell Owens. A reaction from one Dallas Cowboys fan, a good friend of mine, was a song titled "Comfortably Numb". After all, Terrell Owens and the Cowboys were like peanut butter and jelly. That is if you like your peanut butter and jelly sandwich with sprinkles of controversy, and a side of popcorn.

So, what caused the Big D to release their popcorn loving, touchdown scoring, on-camera crying T.O? Here are three reasons why Terrell Owens could have received walking papers from the Cowboys;

It was an Owner decision

Jerry Jones, the owner of Dallas Cowboys, discussed the possible release of Owens in February. Jones, tried to be diplomatic about the possible Owens cut, stating that the evaluation process was the same every year. In his statement, Jerry Jones said that "I'm not trying to be trite, but as you all know we're evaluating players in college, we're evaluating free agents and we're evaluating our own roster." While the evaluation process at the Dallas Cowboys headquarters seemed like a normal procedure, the fans also felt that Jones was just plain sick and tired of Owens' tirades.

Our guess is that Jones was tired of feeling like Owens was the Dallas Cowboys, and that the rest of the world forgot there were other players on the team.

Terrell Owens became an off the field embarrassment

It is possible that the off the field Owens charades became an embarrassment to the Dallas Cowboys franchise. After all, the Cowboys have long been called The American Team. Off the field controversy, including his news conference charades may have gotten to be too much face time for Owens and distracting for the rest of the football team.

Last year, Owens made news after he cried during a new conference. Owens cries came as a response to the scrutiny and backlash that Tony Romo faced, after he was blamed for the loss against Giants, by the media.
Watch the Video of Owens crying, defending Tony Romo

In 2007, Owens left a locker room note for the press with a now famous line "Getcha Popcorn Ready". The note was left before the Cowboys against Patriots game, and the popcorn line was referring to a comment Owens made after signing with the Dallas Cowboys in 2006.

While Terrell Owens has proven to be a talented football player, with an ability to make great plays and score, he has also become a mascot off the field. The media has spent years making fun of Owens, and paying more attention to covering his antics than his plays.

Owens stopped playing nice with other teammates

There has been talk of Owens having a rift with the tight end Jason Witten, as well as a possible falling apart of the Owens/Romo love match. It has been reported that Owens and Witten almost came to physical blows in mid-December. Romo and Owens were not getting along as good as they used to, perhaps because Owens felt like Romo was not passing him the ball enough. Terrell Owens seems to be an individual who feeds off of attention, therefore losing out on passes meant he was not in the spotlight.

A possible rift between Owens and other teammates could be the reason for Cowboys releasing Owens. He became a cancerous cell that had to be removed, for the good and health of rest of the team.

Football fanatics will watch where Terrell Owens will end up next. Whoever is brave enough, coaches and owners, to put up with Owens' charades will gain a great football player. Terrell Owens can catch a ball and run it for a touchdown, even when it seems impossible. With greatness comes responsibility though. With many NFL teams disliking T.O.'s antics, it might be more of a headache than entertainment to hire Owens as any football team's next wide receiver.

Sources:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3913910
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3953647
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNO6On7cK1M