Terrell Owens Will Wear Number 81

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Buffalo Bills receiver Terrell Owens will continue to wear the only number he has ever worn in his NFL career — number 81 — even though prior to his arrival in Buffalo, that number belonged to receiver James Hardy. Apparently, the Bills went to James and asked him if he cared. And even though I don’t think it really mattered if he cared or not, there didn’t seem to be any resistance about giving the number to T.O. Some media are trying to make a big deal out of this because T.O. didn’t actually ask or pay James for the number (as is customary in the National Football League), but someone higher than T.O. did (Bills GM Russ Brandon) so it’s no big deal. James will now wear number 84 and I think everyone’s happy. T.O. explained himself on WEDG:

“When I walked into the building for the first time and they showed me around and I walked into the locker room, first thing I saw was a locker and it had the number 81 with Owens, with the name on the back, and I had some other Buffalo swag hung up in the locker room. As far as working deals out, I don’t know. That’s not my department. I think Russ, the General Manager, he’ll have to deal with that.”

I think Russ Brandon will have a lot to deal with while Terrell is in town.

Sources: BuffaloBills.com, SportsRadioInterviews.com, Photo: NFLShop.com