By Joe Hawkes

By a show of hands, how many people believe that former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens deserves enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016?

Both of my hands are in the air.

Recently, Owens made an appearance on the The Rich Eisen Show and noted that he isn’t too worried about if (or when) he will be selected to join the likes of Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, Michael Irvin, and Andre Reed.

“I can’t wrap my head around that whole process because it really, literally, doesn’t mean that much to me,” Owens said Thursday. “I understand what I’ve done on the field and it’s probably well deserving of (the Hall), but I’m being honest, it really doesn’t bother me whether I get in or not.”

When I heard that statement from Owens, 41, it hit me like a bolt of lightning and I was holding a metal pole.

Take a look at Owens’ 15-year career numbers: sixth all-time in catches (1,078) and third in receiving touchdowns (153), trailing Rice (197) and Randy Moss (156). His 15,934 receiving yards is good for second all-time behind Rice’s 22,895.

Owens is definitely a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but will the voters really try to stick it to Owens and make him sweat a few years a la Andre Reed? Reed finished with 2,736 yards and 66 fewer touchdowns than Owens, despite playing 16 years in the NFL.

Owens, who rubbed some coaches and teammates the wrong way from his time in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Dallas, so he could be waiting for that phone call from Canton for a bit, but he shouldn’t.

Sure Owens was competitive, cocky, brash, and loquacious on the football field, but he backed it up.  Owens could take a simple five-yard slant and take it the distance no matter which cornerback he was matched up with.

“I guess (being in the Hall) from a standpoint of a legacy or what my kids can really see what I’ve done, the body of work and appreciate it, then yeah, and my family,” Owens added. “But me, personally, it doesn’t do anything for me because I never played the game for that. I played it because I was competitive. I played it to the point that I realized my talent and I became pretty good at it. That was my motivation. I wanted to win at all costs.”

And the prolific wide receiver nearly led Philadelphia to a Super Bowl championship in 2004. Six weeks after breaking his ankle, Owens was back on the field for Super Bowl XXXIX, finishing with nine catches and 122 yards in the Eagles’ 24-21 loss to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Maybe if Donovan McNabb, who vomited and wore down as the game wore on found Owens for a touchdown, Owens walks off with the MVP trophy, a trip to Disney World, and a ring.

At this point of his life, Owens appears to be comfortable in his own skin and doesn’t think that it’s a big deal if he doesn’t get into the Hall in 2016, or at all.

It would be an absolute injustice if Owens isn’t enshrined into Canton within the next five years, but hey, that’s just my opinion.