If the NFL Players Association has its way, Terrell Owens will have a shot at playing football again this season, a key union official told ESPN's Chris Mortensen. The players union will not only ask arbitrator Richard Bloch to reduce the financial penalty but will argue that Owens should be reinstated to the "exact status" he had as a player before his suspension. "That status means that he reports to the practice facility, he goes to team meetings, he practices and, hopefully, he plays," the union source said. "True, we can't force the Eagles to activate him on game day and play him but we feel pretty strongly about our case." Under the arbitration rules, Bloch cannot make Owens a free agent but if he reinstates the receiver, as the union asks, it could force the team's hand to release him, to avoid the distraction of Owens reporting for work every day. Financially, the union will argue that the Eagles' four-game suspension of Owens for conduct detrimental to the team was excessive and, at the most, he should miss only one game check for this past weekend's game against the Redskins.