As recently as like three years ago, Terrell Owens would've had a shot at cracking CBS Sports' "Top Five Wide Receivers in the NFL " list.

Now? Child, please; he needs a team first.

The likelihood that he will find one has been narrowed further, provided you believe the comments made by A.J. Smith about Owens to the San Diego Union-Tribune 's Nick Canepa:

“We’re all set right now with our receivers,” says Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith, back from vacation a week before the opening of training camp. “I don’t want to be involved. A lot of people have us targeted [for Owens], but they know I wouldn’t do it.

The Chargers are clearly in a bizarre situation, because while they have a ton of talent on the offensive end, they could be without star wideout Vincent Jackson for a minimum of three weeks (his suspension ) and possibly up to 10 (provided he continues to hold out ).

In fact, Smith acknowledges in the same article, when referring to Jackson and Pro Bowl left tackle Marcus McNeill , that, "it's over with ... I think they're going to be here for six games, and then think they're going to be free." Yet, they still have clearly zero interest in the oft-troubled wideout.

All of this lends even more credence to something that our own Mike Freeman wrote recently : that Owens is being pseudo-banished by the NFL.

Think about it -- he's been rejected by the Panthers (Jon Beason, who practically laughed at the notion of TO coming to Carolina in an online chat ), the Redskins , the Bengals (even though Chad Ochocinco was reportedly pleading the brass to ink him), and now the Chargers. All of those teams need help at wideout, and yet, Owens can't find a home.

Adam Schefter tweets that Drew Rosenhaus texted him today to say he's "very confident" that Owens "will have a home within a few weeks," but making the presumption that someone will ink TO -- particularly given all the wideout-needy teams that have passed already -- just based on an agent's PR manuevers seems pretty optimistic.

Of course, injuries happen, even in training camp, and it's likely some team that will get desperate and give Owens a short-term, incentive-laden deal. But, on the bright side, even that doesn't happen, he's always got a future as a reality show sidekick . So there's that.

-- Will Brinson

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsnfl on Twitter.

It’s official. San Diego WR Vincent Jackson is suspended for the first three regular-season games, the team confirmed in a statement Monday night.

The news, of course, comes as no surprise, but this is the first time the Chargers have commented on Jackson’s violation of the league’s substance-abuse policy.

“Obviously, we're disappointed,” San Diego GM A.J. Smith said in the statement. “Vincent made a mistake and now must deal with the consequences.”


--Josh Katzowitz

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsnfl on Twitter.

Despite giving WR Vincent Jackson and OT Marcus McNeill an extra 24 hours to sign their restricted free agent tender offers, the Chargers now expect to play much of the 2010 NFL season without two of their stars, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kevin Acee writes.

“We lost a couple of great players today, and it hurts,” GM A.J. Smith told the paper. “We are trying to build a championship team, and losing the services of both Vincent and Marcus just made that more difficult – but not impossible. In due time, Coach (Norv) Turner will name two new starters. We will rally as a team, compete and try to win as many games as we can.”

It won’t be easy to replace the production of Jackson and McNeill. Jackson is coming off a 68-catch, nine-touchdown season, and every year he’s been in the NFL, his production has improved. McNeill, meanwhile, is a two-time Pro Bowler and will be sorely missed on the offensive line, protecting QB Philip Rivers’ blindside.

Acee expects both players to forgo signing what would be a hugely-reduced contract and then return to the team in mid-November to play the final six games – which would count to their service time as an accrued season. Acee explains how much money Jackson and McNeill will give up:

McNeill will lose $2.568 million as his tender is dropped to $600,000. Should he not report until after the Chargers’ 10th game, which numerous sources have said he will and the Chargers are expecting, he will make $212,000.

Jackson will have his tender dropped from $3.268 million to $583,000 (a $2.685 million reduction). He would make $206,000 if he doesn’t report until six games are left, though it remains unclear how an expected suspension of two to four games for his past DUIs will affect him.

Without them, expect newly-signed WR Josh Reed and OT Tra Thomas to take their places in the lineup.


--Josh Katzowitz

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsnfl .