Hall of Famer Terrell Owens shares funny story about a bet he once made with Andy Reid
Outside of Baltimore, NFL fans may not remember the San Francisco 49ers once tried to trade wide receiver Terrell Owens to the Ravens.
But because of a dispute about Owens’ contract, he was instead dealt to the Eagles, who were ready to give Owens a seven-year contract worth nearly $50 million.
Shortly after Owens began practicing with the Eagles, he made an unusual and humorous bet with coach Andy Reid. In a chat with Olivia Harlan Dekker and Yannis Pappas on the Unleashed podcast, Owens recounted the story behind the wager that nearly ended up with Reid wearing form-fitting tights at practice.
“When I played with the Niners for about eight years, I adopted wearing the tights just like Jerry (Rice) did. So when I left the Niners and I went to the Eagles, I went out for my first practice and so traditionally I go out in my tights, no shorts or anything,” Owens said.
“And I go to my first practice, I’m out there on the field and one of the equipment guys came to me and he was like, ‘Yo, you need to go inside to put on your shorts’. I’m like, ‘What? What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Andy wants you to go put on some shorts’, and I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I’m like, ‘I’ve been dressing this way for eight years.’ I mean, I modeled my attire like after the best receiver in the game. And that was one of Andy’s rules is that he didn’t want anybody with like, just tights on.”
Owens, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, said he didn’t want to make waves in his very first practice with the Eagles, so he changed into shorts
“I go back out, I practice, and then we had a chat about the shorts versus no shorts,” Owens said. “And he said, ‘You really want to wear (tights), you don’t like those shorts?’ I’m like, ‘No, sir.’ And so he’s like, ‘How about a wager?’ And I’m like sure I’m up for it.’ And then he said, ‘How many touchdowns do you think you’re going to score this year?’ And I said, ‘Well, what’s the top and ... I’ll beat that.’”
An Associated Press story from 2004, said Reid challenged Owens to get 15 touchdown receptions.
“And so he said if you break that record, I’ll come out to practice in some tights,” Owens recalled. “Do you know when I got hurt, I was at 14. I was at 14 with two games to go. ... I wanted so badly to see him in tights. So bad.”
Owens missed the Eagles’ final two regular-season games because of a broken leg and torn ligament in his right ankle.
Reid felt bad that Owens didn’t get a shot to win the bet, so he offered to amend it, according to a 2004 story in the Morning Call.
“I told him that the tights are on hold, but if he can come back in the Super Bowl and get one I’ll don the tights,” Reid said at the time.
After missing Philadelphia’s two playoff games, Owens made a remarkable return to the Eagles for Super Bowl XXXIX. He caught nine passes 122 yards but wasn’t able to score that touchdown to win the wager.
Owens got confused on some of the details about the actual Eagles’ record at the time (it was 13 by Mike Quick and Tommy McDonald), but this is still a fun story that shows why Reid is loved by his players.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 8:57 AM.
