Eagles due to cut ties with T.O. today

[thestuman]

Eagles due to cut ties with T.O. today

Posted: 29 minutes ago



Finally, the day has arrived that the Eagles and Terrell Owens will part ways. Odds of a trade are very slim, so it appears that by mid-afternoon Tuesday, the Eagles will release Owens and let him join the ranks of the free agents.



Tuesday is the fifth day of the NFL calendar year and it's the final day of the Terrell Owens in Philadelphia calendar. There is still an itsy-bitsy piece of intrigue about how Owens' exit will come — either by trade or release — but at this point, a trade would be a huge surprise.

After being given permission to seek a trade for Owens, his agent Drew Rosenhaus, dragged him to Denver for a visit with the Broncos and it seemed like there may be some hope for a deal with Denver. Last week though Broncos owner Pat Bowlen came out and said that his team's interest in Owens had been "overblown" by the media. At one point, there were rumors that the Chiefs were set to offer a fifth-round pick for Owens, but were unable to make any ground in renegotiating his contract. The other teams interested — Miami, Tampa Bay, the N.Y. Jets and Dallas Cowboys — have never been thought to have much interest in trading for Owens.

In his contract with the Eagles, Owens receives a $5 million bonus if he's on the roster Wednesday morning and another bonus of $7.5 million later in the month. No way. The Eagles won't let either bonus hit and will release Owens, if necessary, by Tuesday's 4 p.m. ET deadline for league transactions to become official.

Once Owens would hit the open market, it's thought that the focus would shift from Kansas City or Denver to the Cowboys. Rosenhaus met with Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells for lunch at the NFL combine, reportedly to discuss Owens.

The Jets, Buccaneers and Dolphins haven't shown the same sort of interest in Owens that the Broncos, Chiefs and Cowboys have and are considered long shots to get Owens either through a trade or as a free agent. The Dolphins are reportedly close to a deal with quarterback Drew Brees and adding a Pro Bowl type receiver for him to throw to would be of interest to the team, but they may not want the baggage that would come with Owens.