Terrell Owens has harsh words for Vince McMahon’s XFL rules

On Monday’s episode of Complex’s “Out of Bounds,” former NFL wideout Terrell Owens had some choice words about WWE owner Vince McMahon’s XFL reboot — specifically concerning its rules about player eligibility.

When McMahon first announced the rebirth of the XFL last week, football fans had a field day speculating which players long passed over by the NFL could find a second career in the alternative pro football league, such as Owens and former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel.

And then details emerged about the league’s rules:

In the interest of learning from his past mistakes when he attempted to launch the XFL in 2001, McMahon is taking a dramatically different approach this time around. While its forebear borrowed from the WWE in that it leaned in to violence and sex appeal, McMahon sees the new XFL as being good, clean family-friendly fun.

Which is what led McMahon to decide, among other things, that he would not allow players with arrest records to sign with the league.

On Monday’s “Out of Bounds” appearance, Owens didn’t hold back when discussing McMahon’s rules.

"“You talk about freedom of expression, I think that’s a hot topic right now. And you talk about the criminal records, that eliminates a lot of people. So it’s gonna be an all-white league pretty much. I don’t know how that’s gonna play out.”"

Unless you count the warrant that was issued for T.O.’s arrest back in 2011 when he missed a court date regarding child support, McMahon’s eligibility requirements don’t expressly preclude Owens, who last suited up for the Seattle Seahawks in 2012, from signing. (They do, of course, for Manziel).

But what Owens (and everyone else) is taking umbrage with is the fact that while McMahon doesn’t seem to have a lot of the specifics worked out in terms of the product his league will put on the field, he seems to have very specific ideas about the kind of players he wants to trot out there.

“One of the things, when I said the quality of the human being is very important — and just as important as the quality of the player, what I mean by that is, you want someone who does not have any criminality whatsoever associated with them,” McMahon told Sports Illustrated‘s Jimmy Traina.

“And in the XFL, even if you have a DUI, you will not play in the XFL so that would probably eliminate some, but not all of them. If Tim Tebow wants to play, he could very well play.”

McMahon has also suggested that his league will require players to remain standing for the national anthem and that it will remain mum on social issues.

So there you go. If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for a league filled with Tim Tebows…congratulations. Your time has come.

Owens has been attempting to stage a comeback for years, from announcing in 2015 that he was training with NFL players to captaining Team Owens for the American Flag Football League.

He has also been vocal about his disappointment in not being named to the Hall of Fame despite being second all-time in touchdown receptions and third in receiving yards, largely due to his off-the-field issues throughout his career.

Next: Top 10 NFL players who retired too soon

And despite his apparent disdain for McMahon’s rules, if T.O. truly wants to continue playing football, the new XFL might be his best bet.