Terrell Owens has decided to decline his invitation to the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held on Aug. 4 in Canton, OH.

Owens is one of the best wide receivers in NFL history and has the stats prove it. With 15,934 career receiving yards, 153 receiving touchdowns and six Pro Bowl selections to his name, Owens is unquestionably one of the league’s most productive wideouts of all-time. However, Owens’ career was also plagued by constant drama both on and off the field, so his decision to decline the invitation to the ceremony is not all that surprising.

Speaking with Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro of Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7, Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole explained that the induction speech is typically a special chance to give thanks to everyone that helped you reach this point in your career.

“He (Terrell Owens) has hundreds of people that he owes a debt of thanks too,” said Cole. “It’s an opportunity for them to be recognized and to live in some reflective glory of being a part of T.O.’s life.”

Owens is part of a 2018 HOF class that consists of Bobby Beathard, Robert Brazile, Brian Dawkins, Jerry Kramer, Ray Lewis, Randy Moss and Brian Urlacher. Yet, Owens has unsurprisingly found a way to make this moment all about himself.

“It doesn’t need to be turned into a sideshow,” Cole continued. “But he’s turned it into a sideshow. Because that’s what TO does, and that’s one of the things that people hated about him when he was a player.”

The drama aside, Owens is still one of the best wide receivers the NFL has ever seen, which is why Cole voted for the highly charismatic player to be memorialized in Canton forever.

“My reason for voting for him this year is, at the end of the day, his production was every bit as good as Randy Moss,” Cole said. “Put their stats together. They’re the same player. I was on board with T.O.”

Owens is missing out on a once in a lifetime moment, as it seems that he believes he should have been a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee. To be fair, Owens has the numbers to prove it. He is eighth all-time in catches (1,078), second all-time in receiving yards (15,934) and third all-time with 153 touchdown receptions, but he certainly is not the first deserving player to be snubbed on his first time on the ballot.

“There are a lot of selfish guys in the Hall of Fame and I don’t hold that against T.O., a lot in that respect,” Cole said. “But, he (Owens) did enough of that to keep him out for a couple of years. He was enough of a bad teammate that if I had other choices of other guys who I thought were as deserving or even more, I was more than happy to vote for those guys.”

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