Terrell Owens to join Allen Wranglers

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Former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens announced on Twitter on Wednesday night that he's going to play and become co-owner for the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League.

"It's official, it just went down, I'm headed back to Dallas," Owens said in a 22-second video posted on his Twitter account. "That's right, IFL, here I come. Allen, Texas, here I come. I'm going to be me."

Wranglers co-owner Jon Frankel said Owens agreed to terms Wednesday night and that he was in talks with the former Dallas Cowboys player for several weeks.

Owens visited Dallas last week.

"He's a great player, a winner, and I'm a big fan," Frankel said. "I want to make the Allen Wranglers the No. 1 attraction in Collin County."

The Wranglers play in Allen, Texas, a suburb roughly a half-hour north of Dallas. Frankel said Owens will play in all the home games, and it hasn't been decided whether he'll play in road games. The Wranglers' season starts Feb. 25 at home against Wichita.

The IFL is a 16-team league consisting of teams from various states, including franchises in Green Bay, Sioux Falls, Chicago, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nebraska.

Owens' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, didn't return a call seeking comment.

"[Owens] has an ownership stake," Frankel said. "This is a business decision. I'm glad everybody looks at the players' aspects. I can't believe T.O. will come out of that tunnel for the Allen Wranglers."

Owens

Frankel said he would like to schedule a news conference at the Allen Events Center late next week. The news conference would be open to the public.

A third-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers in the 1996 NFL draft, Owens played for five teams duirng a 15-year career. He's second all-time in receiving yards (15,934), fourth in touchdowns (156) and sixth in catches (1,078).

Owens last played with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010, catching 72 passes for 983 yards and nine touchdowns. Owens underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL suffered in 2011.

After recovering from the injury, he held a workout for NFL teams this fall. No NFL team showed up, but the tapes of the workout were made available. Owens didn't get a contract offer from a team and was hoping he would get picked up late in the 2011 season.

But it didn't happen, and it's prompted him to move toward a minor league football team. The Wranglers' general manager is former Cowboys great Drew Pearson, who also met with Owens in the past few weeks in an attempt to sign him.

Calvin Watkins covers the Cowboys for ESPNDallas.com.

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Calvin Watkins

ESPNDallas.com

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Calvin Watkins joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. He's covered the Cowboys since 2006 and also has covered colleges, boxing and high school sports.