Terrell Owens spent 15 NFL seasons talking his way into headlines.
He did it again with a post about the Nolan Wells case. Within 24 hours, a lawyer was promising him to take Owens to court.
The Hall of Famer has been vocal about the Black Mississippi teen’s death since the summer. His latest outburst came one day after the Wells family’s legal team claimed messages had vanished from Nolan’s phone. That claim reignited the case just days after a grand jury declined to charge anyone.
But the answer Owens got didn’t come from police or prosecutors. It came from the attorney for three of Wells’ friends, who seemed to be enjoying himself.
And the commentator whose video started it all thinks he knows exactly why they went after T.O.
On Friday, Sept. 25, Owens reposted a clip from “The Trent Out Loud Show,” hosted by a commentator who has been covering the case.
In it, the host demands the immediate arrest of “the three white boys,” claiming the family’s phone findings amounted to “probable cause.” He wanted the Mississippi district attorney arrested, too.
Owens added his own caption on X: “ARREST THEM IMMEDIATELY!! LIKE YESTERDAY!!”
The next afternoon, defamation attorney Edward Andrew Paltzik hit back. He represents Wells’ friends Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour alongside Mississippi lawyer J. Tyler Cox.
Paltzik quote-posted Owens with a football-themed warning. “Johnny, tell Terrell Owens what he’s won!” he wrote. “A tight spiral of a defamation suit thrown downfield his way in the very near future! TRIAL TIME, T.O.”
Paltzik, who once represented Donald Trump, joined the friends’ legal team in August.
Wells went missing on July 4 after a boat trip with friends to Horn Island. The barrier island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast can only be reached by boat. His body was found two days later.
On Sept. 21, Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath announced that a grand jury heard from 43 witnesses and unanimously declined to indict anyone. The grand jury found the teen’s death “consistent with drowning.”
The family has stressed that both the state and independent autopsies listed his cause of death as undetermined.
Three days later, Crump, the family’s attorney, held a news conference with forensic examiner Andrew Garrett. Garrett said Snapchat data had been deleted between Wells’ last use of the phone and the moment his parents got it back.
McIlrath fired back within hours. She said that activity came “from other Snapchat users, not someone physically accessing Nolan Wells’ phone,” and told Crump’s team to “stop playing games.”
Garrett has since made the same distinction himself. According to the Mississippi Free Press, in livestreams after the news conference he said the phone stayed locked from about 2:18 p.m. on July 4 until 3:14 a.m. the next morning, and that Snapchat messages can be deleted remotely by the people who sent them.
“I didn’t say somebody unlocked the phone and started playing with the phone and started deleting the phone,” as heard in a clip posted on Facebook, “because that’s exactly what I would’ve said.”
Trent isn’t backing down, though. In a follow-up video shared on Facebook, he said Owens “simply agreed with me.” He argued the friends’ camp went after the more famous name to drum up attention and donations.
He pointed to their GiveSendGo, “Stand With Nolan Wells’ Targeted Friends,” which lists a $500,000 goal and just over $203,000 raised, with the money going to Cox’s law firm. He also asked where that money is going if, as he claims, the attorneys are allegedly working for free.
The campaign says donations go “solely” toward defamation cases. The legal team says it has already sent pre-suit letters to Al Sharpton and Sunny Hostin, with Crump next. They also claim that the young men are still receiving bomb and death threats.
On social media, the replies split fast. On Paltzik’s Instagram, one user told him to “stop trying to intimidate people with lawsuits for exercising their first amendment rights,” adding, “It not a good look for your clients!”
Another laughed off the threat on X. “The fact you think you’re scaring anyone,” they wrote. “Defamation lawsuit meaning y’all will properly investigate. Don’t threaten us with a good time.”
One person said they never would’ve seen Owens’ post if the lawyer hadn’t threatened him, and called it an “excellent publicity strategy.”
“Easy to pledge money when everyone knows no crime has been committed, and no arrest will ever be made. Money grab; pure and simple,” another person noted.
Owens has put money behind his words before.
In July, he added $25,000 to a reward fund for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Wells’ death, according to Yahoo News. That brought the total to $125,000, alongside money from Sharpton and Tyler Perry. He also attended the teen’s funeral in Ocean Springs.
The fight has spread well past Owens’ timeline. Over the weekend, the volunteer rescue group United Cajun Navy called on the Justice Department to investigate Crump, accusing him of inciting terrorism.
As of this writing, Owens still has the post up, and no one has filed a lawsuit.
Today, also community leaders are calling for a “Blackout for Nolan Wells.” Participants are asked to change their profile pictures, share Nolan Wells’ name and flood social media timelines with his image.
The campaign aims to honor Nolan, show solidarity with his family and keep his memory from being forgotten.
@terrellowens
— Edward Andrew Paltzik, Attorney (@EdPaltzik) September 27, 2026
Johnny, tell Terrell Owens what he's won!
A tight spiral of a defamation suit thrown downfield his way in the very near future!
TRIAL TIME, T.O.@mrcoxie @TheOfficerTatum @SarahisCensored @tnnealy02 @FugitiveTV_Live @margar45 @Unshakablewapr… pic.twitter.com/yAlIdQUkXp
