Simone Biles' husband, Jonathan Owens, makes Bears roster after missing part of training camp for Paris Olympics
Jonathan Owens will play for his third team in the league this fall
Although he missed a chunk of training camp, Simone Biles’ husband’s job with the Chicago Bears is safe.
Safety Jonathan Owens officially made the Bears’ 53-man roster on Tuesday. While that might not be much of a surprise, Owens’ training camp was perhaps unlike anyone else’s in the league this summer.
Owens left midway through camp to go watch his wife compete at the Paris Olympics. Biles won three gold medals and a silver medal in France, which brought her to 11 total Olympic medals in her career. She is now the most decorated gymnast of all time and one of the all-time Olympic greats.
While the Bears were preparing for the season, Owens was watching Biles compete in person — which is something he negotiated with the team before he signed his contract. And the Bears were all for it. The team provided him recordings of meetings, practices and schemes while he was in Paris, and he said they were all incredibly supportive of him the entire way. Many were even pushing him to bring souvenirs back with him.
“That’s a big deal, where he’s supporting the one he loves the most,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said before the Olympics. “I think that’s so cool he gets to do that, and we welcome that, and it’s going to be awesome.
“Go USA.”
Owens signed a two-year, $4.75 million deal with the Bears this offseason. He had 84 total tackles and recovered a fumble last season with the Green Bay Packers. The 29-year-old got his start in the league with the Houston Texans, with whom he spent four seasons and where he met Biles, who trains at a Houston-area gym. The couple got engaged in 2022, ahead of his final season with the team, which was his first as a true starter in the league.
It's unclear if Biles will attempt to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, for which she'll be 31 years old. In the meantime, it's safe to assume that Biles will be in the stands for at least a few Bears games this fall.
“I just think about, ‘How did I get so lucky that this is my wife, and I get to see her?’” Owens said of Biles before the Olympics. "Someone that’s literally at the pinnacle of their sport, and I get to call [her] my wife.
“Just blessed.”
