The exchange between Lynch and Owens started when the general manager commended Owens for his efforts to raise Alzheimer's awareness. It ended with Owens telling Lynch that quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is going to need a big-play receiver and that he fits that need. Owens even suggested that he would be willing to play for the league's veteran minimum salary of $1.015 million per year via the hashtag #VetMin.
Pleading with the team he has admittedly been holding a grudge against is a curious move. Owens, who is a five-time first-team All-Pro and a six-time Pro Bowl selection, hasn't expressed a lot of love for the team that made him a third-round draft pick in 1996. In his opinion, things ended badly between him and the team as his time in San Francisco came to a close.
While arriving at a Minneapolis area airport in April for the week leading to the Super Bowl, Owens was asked by a TMZ reporter which team he would enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame with (before he was officially selected as an inductee). The question was irrelevant since individuals do not enter the Hall of Fame associated with a single team. Instead, they enter as a player and associated with each team with which they played.
Owens answered the question anyway.
"Well, it won't be the Niners," he said.
Owens will enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August. The cover of the Madden NFL 19: Hall of Fame Edition video game, which is due out the same month, will feature him. Of course, Owens will represent the Dallas Cowboys on that cover, the team he was with for just three NFL seasons, and not the 49ers, with which he spent the majority of his NFL career.
When asked to acknowledge he is a Niner first and foremost, Owens told a fan via Twitter, "That's where I started. Never denied that."
Another fan tweeted to Lynch that Owens would help fill the seats at Levi's Stadium and help the offense move the chains. "I couldn't agree more," Owens responded.
Regardless of Owens' pleas for a return to the NFL, which tend to pop up regularly, the 49ers are unlikely to consider such a signing. The team has a lot of confidence in its young roster, including a wide receiver group that includes Pierre Garçon, Marquise Goodwin, Trent Taylor, and second-round draft pick Dante Pettis.
H/T to Cam Inman of Bay Area News Group for the find.
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