Packers sign free agent safety Jonathan Owens

Jonathan Owens is many things. He is a four-year NFL veteran, having played with the Houston Texans since 2019 following a rookie season spent with the Arizona Cardinals on injured reserve. He is also a full-time starting safety who was in the lineup for every game last season. Owens is also the husband of Simone Biles — the four-time gold medal-winning gymnast — as of this past weekend.

Now, Owens is also a Green Bay Packer.

Owens has signed a deal with the Packers, posting photos of the signing on his Instagram account. Both he and Biles were present at Lambeau Field for the signing, with the two donning green and gold immediately:

Owens’ addition to the safety room gives the Packers significant recent starting experience. In his 17 starts last season, Owens played 83 percent of the Texans’ defensive snaps and recorded an impressive total of 125 tackles. Prior to last season, he was primarily a special teams contributor as he was on the field for about half of the Texans’ teams snaps over 14 games in his first three years.

The Packers will likely consider using him both on defense and teams for the upcoming season, adding yet another player to a group that consists heavily of unproven but intriguing players. Thanks to those 17 starts last season, Owens has the most NFL starting experience of any player in the group outside of Darnell Savage, with Rudy Ford and fellow new signing Tarvarius Moore having 12 and 13 NFL starts, respectively.

Owens certainly fits the Packers’ trends at the safety position, however. Although he is a bit on the shorter side at 5-foot-11, he is thickly built at 210 pounds and displayed excellent speed (4.44 40) and explosiveness (43-inch vertical) at his Pro Day in 2018. Those numbers combined with some solid agility times give him a 9.69 RAS, a typically elite number for a Packers player.

This signing all but closes the door on Adrian Amos returning to Green Bay, however. The team now has ten safeties on the 90-man roster, and although several of them have been primarily special teams players in their careers, that remains a huge number. Owens should have a great chance to make the Packers’ roster in 2023 simply due to his recent experience as an NFL starter.