Owens played high school football at Christian Brothers College High School (CBC) under coach Scott Pingel after attending middle school at Loyola Academy of St. Louis. During his high school career, Owens won CBC Linebacker of the Year.[1]
On August 31, 2019, Owens was waived by the Cardinals.[5]
2019 - 2022: Houston Texans
On September 30, 2019, Owens was signed to the practice squad of the Houston Texans.[6] He was promoted to the active roster on November 21, 2019, but waived two days later and re-signed to the practice squad.[7] He signed a reserve/future contract with the Texans on January 13, 2020.[8]
On September 5, 2020, Owens was waived by the Texans and signed to the practice squad the next day.[9][10] He was elevated to the active roster on October 10 and 17 for the team's weeks 5 and 6 games against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans, and reverted to the practice squad after each game.[11][12] On December 12, 2020, Owens was signed to the active roster.[13]
On August 31, 2021, Owens was waived by the Texans and re-signed to the practice squad.[14][15] He was promoted to the active roster on December 4.[16] On December 9, the Texans signed Owens to a two-year, $1.175 million deal that ran through the 2022 season.[17] On December 26, 2021, Owens had his first career interception and first fumble recovery in the Texans' upset win over the Los Angeles Chargers.[18] On January 3, 2022, Owens was placed on injured reserve after suffering a dislocated wrist in the team's week 16 loss against the San Francisco 49ers.[19]
On March 13, 2024, Owens signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Bears.[22] In the season opener against the Tennessee Titans, Owens scored the Bears' first touchdown of the season on a returned blocked punt in a 24–17 victory.[23][24]
Owens and gymnast Simone Biles announced their engagement on February 15, 2022.[25] They married on April 22, 2023.[26]
The couple went viral for an interview they did on The Pivot Podcast on December 19, 2023[27] in which Owens made controversial comments about their relationship, such as stating he was "the catch" in their relationship,[28] and that he initially had not wanted to commit, exclaiming "I was fighting it! I was fighting it! I was fighting it!"[29] He said that had Biles not "shot her shot" and convinced him, he would most likely not be with her.[29] When asked "how in the hell did you pull Simone Biles," he said "really, how'd she pull me, man? That's the question."[29]
These comments resulted in widespread backlash online,[30] with commenters across all platforms saying things such as, “You should value your wife and not talk about her with such disdain, a man doesn’t need to diminish his wife to feel good or more important!”[31] and "the way this unknown man sat there and tried to humble his wife, Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, Simone Biles. In the words of Adele, 'Divorce babes, divorce."[32]
After four days, Biles posed a tweet asking "are y'all done yet" which just resulted in even more negative comments regarding Jonathan Owens.[33] Months later, in April of 2024, on the Call Her Daddy podcast, regarding this controversy, Biles said, "I thought it was hilarious at first and then they hurt my feelings... One night, I broke down and I'm like, why are you guys talking about my husband like this? You don't know him, you don't know who he is."[34]
Owens was granted time off from Chicago Bears training camp to watch Biles compete in Paris at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[35]
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