Hall of Fame WR Terrell Owens makes stunning admission about career

Retired wide receiver Terrell Owens never seemed to lack confidence during his professional playing days but once doubted he'd step foot on an NFL field as an active player. 

"I wasn’t a great athlete when I grew up and when I came out of high school even," Owens told retired NBA star and former ESPN personality Jalen Rose for a piece published by the New York Post. "I didn’t think I was a great athlete coming out of college. I never knew that I was going to eventually become a Hall of Famer. That was never really on my radar."

Long before Owens became a household name who encouraged fans to get their popcorn ready ahead of his games, he played well enough at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to be selected by the San Francisco 49ers during the third round of the 1996 NFL Draft. Owens earned First-Team All-Pro honors with the Niners each season from 2000 through 2002 before he joined the Philadelphia Eagles ahead of the 2004 campaign. 

It was with the Eagles when Owens completed one of the most remarkable recoveries in NFL history. As noted by ESPN, the outspoken receiver suffered a broken leg and tore a ligament in his right ankle roughly seven weeks before what became Philadelphia's Super Bowl XXXIX loss to the New England Patriots in February 2005. 

"I tore the ligaments in my ankle," Owens told Rose about the injury. "The next day after the game, I found out I had broken my fibula." 

Nevertheless, Owens played against the Patriots and recorded nine catches for 122 yards. He never again appeared in a Super Bowl. 

"I’m going to be around so many violent guys, [the training staff] would not medically clear me to play," Owens explained during his chat with Rose. "So I had to sign a waiver declaring myself [able] to play in the Super Bowl." 

Owens teased around his 49th birthday, which he celebrated last December, that he wanted to attempt one more NFL comeback with the 49ers. Clearly, the young version of Owens who once doubted he'd play in the league is now merely a memory. 

"There’s great, and then there’s the level of greatness [even above most] athletes," Owens told Rose. "For myself, I’m proud to say that I’ve been spoken [about like] some of those people of greatness."