Terrell Owens cut by Dallas Cowboys

Terrell Owens is done in Dallas.  The Dallas Cowboys released ‘T.O.’ on Wednesday afternoon, as much to improve locker room chemistry as anything else.  With Owens gone, Roy Williams will become the team’s primary wide receiver.  Williams was acquired from the woeful Detroit Lions midway through the 2008 season and Dallas quickly re-signed him after the season.

As of yet there’s been no official comment from either Owens or the Cowboys.  Jerry Jones did offer the following statement on Wednesday morning when the subject of ‘T.O’s’ status was brought up by the local media:

"There are several decisions on our roster we have to look at. This is the time of year we do 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. This is an ongoing thing, not any different than this time last year."

That certainly appears to be a dissembling remark in light of the fact that Owens was released later in the day.  Jones has admitted to many close to him privately in the past few weeks that he’d made a ‘mistake’ signing Owens after the talented but thick headed wide receiver wore out his welcome in Philadelphia. 

Owens is frequently given the blame for forcing former Cowboys’ coach Bill Parcells into an early retirement from that phase of the game.  According to Jones, Parcells knew what he was getting into with Owens:

"You've gotta realize than Bill bought into Terrell joining our team and don't think Terrell didn't come to this team without Bill's blessing. He wanted to win and use the talents of Terrell as much as anyone in this organization ... the entire time Bill was coach they never spoke."

Owens had soap opera-like feuds with several other big names on the team, including QB Tony Romo and TE Jason Witten.  The team attempted to work the media in an effort to convince them that everything was OK, but few bought the subterfuge.  The relationship between Owens and his teammates reached its nadir in December, where he and Witten reportedly had to be restrained from engaging in fisticuffs.

Another target of Owens’ frequent griping was offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.  He frequently criticized Garrett’s play calling and offensive schemes, suggesting that they didn’t utilize his talents to their best advantage.  Some sources suggest that Garrett felt that he could no longer co-exist with Owens and that only his huge financial package in Dallas (where he’ll make $3 million in 2009) kept him from leaving for another team.

Dallas paid Owens a $12 million signing bonus last year as part of a 4 year $34 million deal.  The Cowboys obviously wanted ‘T.O.’ gone pretty badly as they were willing to take a $9 million hit against their salary cap for 2009 to facilitate his release.