Simone Biles was busy winning four gold medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics when she was 19 years old. At that same age, Biles’ husband, Jonathan Owens, was a redshirt freshman defensive back playing for the Missouri Western State University Griffons. Quite certain I have that math correct.
Close enough, right? Just goes to show you, life is a marathon, not a sprint! In all seriousness, what a credit it is to Owens’ hard work and determination to rise from Division II collegiate obscurity, earn his way into the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2018, and position himself for a god-tier Thanksgiving Day performance for the Green Bay Packers in Week 12 of the 2023 season.
Owens was on injured reserve for his entire rookie season and was waived by Arizona. He then spent the next four years in Houston, and made the most of his first shot as a full-time starter with the Texans in 2022 by recording a whopping 125 tackles.
Now, the 28-year-old vet has made five straight starts for Green Bay. None of them were more impactful than what he did in the Pack’s 29-22 road victory over the NFC North rival Lions. His scoop-and-score touchdown essentially swung the outcome in the visitors’ favor:
And as you can obviously see from the stat line a little earlier in this article, Owens racked up 12 tackles. Among those were a massive hit on rookie first-rounder Jahmyr Gibbs on what could’ve been a big run:
Early in the fourth quarter, the Lions had a 3rd and 5 on the Green Bay 10. Jared Goff tried a quick pass on the perimeter to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Owens immediately broke on the play and blew it up by wrapping up St. Brown and taking him to the Ford Field turf for a two-yard loss. Detroit failed to convert the subsequent fourth down, which all but ended their hopes of a comeback.
Folks were giving Owens a lot of grief for missing a tackle that resulted in a touchdown during the Packers’ win over the Chargers this past Sunday.
I guess he took that criticism to heart and made sure he was on-point with his assignments for the holiday.
Good on you, Jonathan Owens. What a dope story of perseverance. Yes, Jordan Love deserves a ton of credit for balling out and throwing three touchdowns, but this game could’ve looked a lot different if not for Owens’ TD, and his quick read-and-react TFL on St. Brown.
Happy wife, happy life, right? Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.
Speaking of holidays, well done by Owens to propose to Biles on Valentine’s Day. That’s a holiday, isn’t it? I think so. Anyway, I’m sure some of you out there are interested in further exploring this uber-athletic couple. So here you go.
