Free-agent wide receiver Terrell Owens talked about his comeback from knee surgery, Chad Ochocinco, Cam Newton and Tim Tebow, among other things, in a wide-ranging interview on NFL.com's Cover Two Podcast (the full interview will be available Wednesday on NFL.com and on iTunes).
Owens said he wasn't bothered that no teams showed up for his public workout Tuesday at a Southern California high school to evaluate him following ACL surgery on his left knee seven months ago. He is uncertain about whether he'll get a chance, but he doesn't think medical concerns should be a reason for teams to shun him.
"I just need an opportunity," Owens said. "I've been in this situation before. I just need an opportunity to show what I can do and I think everyone knows what I can do ... I could have played last week if someone would have signed me, that's how confident that I am. I wouldn't have gone through a workout being exposed like that if I wasn't ready."
Time T.O. go
Terrell Owens' workout on Tuesday turned up nothing that would convince a team to take a risk on him, says Bucky Brooks. **More ...**
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**No teams show at workout**
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**T.O.: It only takes one team**
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**Owens: 'I don't regret anything'**
Owens, who plans to play at least two more seasons, said he would be selective about where he signs, although he might not have many options based on conversations with team executives.
"I want to go to a team that's on the cusp," or a playoff contender, he said.
That includes the Carolina Panthers, where rookie quarterback Cam Newton is off to a strong start.
"Cam Newton is amazing," Owens said.
That's when things got interesting.
"He's getting praised, but I guarantee you if (Broncos quarterback Tim) Tebow was doing what Cam was doing, he'd be all over billboards," Owens said. "He'd be on every commercial. He'd be all over the place."
After treading into controversial territory, Owens quickly changed gears.
"I admire Tim's faith in God," Owens said. "You can't deny that he's a blessed individual. To go through what he went through the first three quarters, 55-plus minutes of that game (Sunday's 18-15 overtime victory over the Dolphins). Everyone was like, 'oh it's over,' but you can never really count out a guy with so much faith and determination, and he showed that. He even showed that the game before when he almost came in and won that game. That in itself shows you he's a gamer."
As for his friend and former Bengals teammate Ochocinco, who is struggling in New England, Owens couldn't resist taking a good-natured swipe: "Chad better watch out because if I get back on the field and start scoring touchdowns before he does, than he's going to hear it."
Owens said that his other former Bengals teammate, quarterback Carson Palmer, "stepped into a mess," when he was inserted as the Oakland Raiders' quarterback in the third quarter of a 28-0 loss to Kansas City.
"I know Carson very well and with a short week, him being thrown into the fire like that (was) kind of unfair but you can't really expect too much from a situation like that. I'm sure he didn't even think that he was going to step on that field ... considering how terrible Kyle Boller was playing, I could have stepped in."
Owens, as was the case when questioned about several teams, said he would take calls (if made) from New England and Oakland, and would work out for both.
The one thing that Owens could not get off his mind were comments made by NFL Network analyst Heath Evans during an interview with both of them on set during "NFL Total Access." Evans commented on his recovery from ACL surgery, and how it took him nearly a year to feel fully recovered and to regain all of his range and strength in his knee.
Owens took umbrage -- multiple times.
"I heard Heath was talking a lot of mess about my range and my knee extension and this and that," Owens said. "Everybody is different. He's not me and I'm not him. I'm on a different level than he's on. For him to compare his injury to my injury and what I was doing on the football field, that's like comparing a Yugo and a Maserati. It's just not even fair."
Follow Steve Wyche on Twitter @wyche89.
