Former 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia's support for Terrell Owens' Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy meant a lot to the former wide receiver.
They didn't have the warmest relationship when they were teammates, but Garcia said advocating for Owens' induction into Canton was a no-brainer.
"Well, because he's a Hall of Famer. I mean, the numbers speak for themselves," Garcia said Thursday on "49ers Pregame Live." "I knew that what we were going to get from T.O. on the football field was 100 percent effort. He was gonna be physical, he was gonna try to make plays, he was gonna try to block when he had to. He was not a part-time player, he never took plays off. He was gonna give everything that he had to give. I respect that."
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Of the 113 touchdown passes that Garcia threw with the 49ers from 1999 to 2003, Owens caught 51. But, the pair repeatedly clashed in San Francisco, with Owens advocating for backup QB Tim Rattay to start over Garcia during one low point.
Garcia said it was easy to brush aside those tensions and speak on behalf of Owens' candidacy.
"What happened off the field, the ... different challenges that we went through -- it's part of football and just part of different personalities that you have to learn to just mesh together and work together and find ways to just be the best that you can be whent it comes time to step in front of the lines and play football," Garcia said. "I stepped out there for him because he's a former teammate that has accomplished a lot and deserved to be in the Hall of Fame."
Owens was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, and he was set to accept his Hall of Fame ring Thursday. He did not attend his induction in August, and spoke at his own ceremony at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.