Back on June 19, Terrell Owens posted a video that showed him blazing a 4.43 40-yard dash.
A short time later, the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League placed Owens, 44, on its 45-man negotiation list. On Friday, Owens was released from that list, which means that he's now free to sign with any other CFL team.
"It's definitely not over," said Jason Staroszik, the Edmonton based agent handling Owens' CFL negotiations, via ESPN.com. "Terrell could still sign as a free agent with any team that's interested. We might see another team put him on their negotiation list. Hopefully there's another team with an interest. I feel there is, so we'll see what happens."
In early June, Owens, who hasn't played in the NFL since 2010, indicated that he'd like another chance to play in the league, specifically with the 49ers.
San Francisco's leading receiver a season ago was running back Carlos Hyde (59 receptions, 350 yards), who is now in Cleveland. But Marquise Goodwin led the team in yards per catch (17.2) and total receiving yards (962) and at 27 he's a much better "big play" candidate than Owens, who had 72 receptions for 983 yards and 9 touchdowns in his final season with the Bengals in '10.
NFL teams haven't shown any interest in Owens, which explained why he was interested in the CFL. Last week, Owens activated a 10-day window where the Eskimos had to either offer him a contract or release him from their exclusive negotiation list. Their decision came on Friday.
As it stands, Owens will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next month (even though he has no plans to attend the ceremony). While the CFL remains an option, it seems unlikely that he'll ever sign with an NFL team; if San Francisco, for example, decides to bolster its wide receiver corps, more likely candidates include Dez Bryant, Jeremy Maclin, Eric Decker or Jaelen Strong -- none older than 31, and all having been on NFL rosters as recently as last season.