Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terry Glenn lost his life early Monday morning after a car accident in Irving.
The Pro Bowler was 43 years old, and remarks from the front office of his former teams were that he was too young.
"We were shocked and deeply saddened by today's news that Terry Glenn died in an auto accident," said New England Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft in a statement.
Cowboys Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones told 105.3 The Fan that the team enjoyed not only Glenn the playmaker but Glenn the person.
Said Jones: "He was certainly a guy we enjoyed around here. Bill [Parcells] brought him in here, introduced us to him, certainly made a lot of great plays while he was here. But enjoyed the person, Terry Glenn. Certainly way too early for a young man like that to pass away in a tragic accident like that. Know that he will be missed and prayers will go out to all his loved ones, his family. Just way too early for a young person like that to pass away."
A first-round pick of the Patriots in 1996, the very pick Parcells referenced in his now famous "groceries" comments when taking the New York Jets job, Glenn led the Patriots in receiving in 1999 and 2000. Off-field issues ranging from domestic abuse allegations to contract holdouts caused second-year coach Bill Belichick to sour on Glenn, who traded him the following season to Green Bay. In 2003, after hiring Parcells, the Cowboys dealt for Glenn.
As a Cowboy, Glenn had an immediate impact teamed up with Joey Galloway and Antonio Bryant and caught 52 passes for a team-high 754 yards and five touchdowns. In 2004, he missed 10 games after a season-ending injury in Green Bay in Week 7, but bounced back in 2005 starting all 16 games as the Cardiac Cowboys finished 9-7. Statistically, 2005 was Glenn's second-best year in terms of receiving yards with 1,136 and career-high with seven touchdowns.
However, it is the 2006 season that Cowboys fans of recent memory will recall. The former Ohio State Buckeye caught 70 passes for 1,047 and six touchdowns with two of those coming on Thanksgiving Day as part of quarterback Tony Romo's five-touchdown performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Glenn caught four passes for 89 yards in the Cowboys' 38-10 victory. Glenn was one of two 1,000-yard receivers the Cowboys had in Romo's first season as a starter with the 9-7 record enough to lead Dallas to a wildcard playoff berth.
Arthroscopic knee surgery in the 2007 off-season put Glenn on the injury report all season and not on the practice field. While the Cowboys cruised to a 12-1 start en route to a 13-3 finish and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, the hope was Glenn would return and the Dallas offense quarterbacked by Romo and designed by first-year offensive coordinator Jason Garrett would explode in the latter part of the year. Glenn indeed returned for the season finale in Washington on Dec. 30, 2007, where he had one target on a bubble screen in a 27-6 loss. In the divisional playoffs in a sugar game with the New York Giants, Glenn caught two passes for 30 yards and was indeed the target on Romo's fateful interception to end the game.
Dallas let Glenn go in 2008. On an episode of "Hard Knocks," the reason is revealed as Jones, who was in negotiations with Glenn's agent, Jimmy Gould, stood firm on having Glenn sign an injury clause to his contract as the club was not entirely confident in his recovery from his knee surgery in the 2007 preseason. The Cowboys released Glenn, and his time in Dallas was over, as was his football career. He was 33 years old. Marvin Harrison, Eddie Kennison, and Amani Toomer played through the 2008 season. Former teammate T.O. even played through the 2010 season. The feeling was Glenn's work inside the lines was not yet finished and he needed one more shot. He never got it, not in Dallas anyway.
Glenn had a rough go off-field during his NFL career, as some people not-so-famous, not-so-endowed encounter in their twenties. In fact, Glenn was arrested for public intoxication for urinating behind a dumpster at McDonald's early New Year's Day 2006, the day of the Cowboys' season finale against the St. Louis Rams.
In the end, Glenn was settling his life off-field; he was adjusting to life after football. He had recently gotten engaged and was going to take serious the commitment of marriage. However, there went his life so briefly and suddenly.
Like his career, he was too young to go. And it was a shock.
