Casey Printers and Terrell Owens team up…with the Indoor Football League’s Allen Wranglers

Casey Printers is trying to improbably resurrect his football career for the second time, but not in the CFL or the NFL. Instead, the former B.C. Lions, Kansas City Chiefs and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback is partnering with another big football name who's in obscurity these days, heading to Allen, Texas to join former NFL star Terrell Owens with the Indoor Football League's Allen Wranglers. Owens not only plays for the team, but is a part owner of it, so Printers probably must have impressed him in tryouts. Having these guys is probably a decent move for the team, which gets some publicity out of it and probably some solid play; Owens and Printers have vastly more impressive resumes than your average IFL player. It's not a terrible move for the players, either, as this gives them a chance to continue playing football in an environment that works for them. Still, it's odd to see two players who were prominent names recently heading so far off the map to the IFL.

Printers is an interesting story, as he's already written one career-resurrection story. After generally tearing up the CFL with B.C. from 2004 to 2005 (despite not completely unseating Dave Dickenson), he headed to the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs and never got too far, bouncing up and down from the practice roster before his eventual release in September 2007. He then quickly returned to the CFL, signing a massive $500,000 contract with Hamilton five days later, but never performed up to his previous level of play, completing just 51.1 per cent of his passes in 2007 and just 55.6 per cent in 2008. Printers was released by the Tiger-Cats at the start of 2009 and looked to be essentially done with high-level football despite being just 27. However, he found his way back to the Lions later that year when they hit a rash of quarterback injuries, and worked his way up from the practice squad to the starting job. He was impressive once he got there, too, completing 63.2 per cent of his passes with a passer rating of 99.3, and he was B.C.'s starter heading into 2010.

Tings quickly went south from there, though. The Lions struggled early and started 2-7, Printers completed only 54.4 per cent of his passes and lost his starting job to Travis Lulay, and he then lost his roster spot following a meltdown after throwing a crucial interception in Winnipeg in relief of Lulay and blasting his teammates afterwards. Despite his obvious talent, that meltdown added to Printers' lacklustre performance to essentially kill his CFL career from that point onwards: he didn't get much interest from anyone else, returned to Texas and became an author/motivational speaker.

Printers is only 30, so it's possible this IFL gig could lead to other football opportunities. See the story of Kerry Joseph, another talented CFL quarterback who essentially played himself out of the league only to surprisingly come back much later in a backup role. However, it seems most likely that Printers' CFL and NFL days are done. If he still wants to play and still can, though, the IFL might not be a bad option.

It's a similar story for Owens. Yes, he reached incredible peaks in his 15-year NFL career, recording 1,078 receptions for 15,934 yards, but his glory days seem to have passed him by. Despite an impressive final season with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010, where he recorded 983 yards in just 14 games, no one had much interest in signing him for 2011 thanks to injury and other issues. Owens reached great heights at times with San Francisco, Philadelphia and even Dallas, but much like Printers, he often wore out his welcome. Still, football ownership might not be a bad outlet for him, and if he still wants to (and is able to play), more power to him. Much like Printers, don't expect it to lead to anything else, though. Both Printers and Owens are notable stories, but at the moment, their stories are largely in the past.