Jonathan Owens reveals his wife, Simone Biles, indirectly played a big role in him choosing the Chicago Bears in free agency
Safety Jonathan Owens is one of the newest members of the Chicago Bears. He will be missing parts of the Bears training camp. This absence has been approved by the Bears coaches and front office.
Normally a new player wouldn’t be permitted to miss multiple weeks of offseason preparations, but this is a special occasion. Owens will be absent from the Bears to support his wife Simone Biles. She will compete as part of Team USA Gymnastics at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Biles will be looking to add to her already illustrious international gymnastics career. The 27-year-old owns four Olympic gold medals and 23 world championships.
Owens talks about free agency negotiations
Owens had a post-training camp press conference on Thursday. There, the media asked Owens about his up coming trip to Paris. In response, Owens revealed his wife had a big impact on which team he chose to play for in 2024. Owens wanted to go to Paris to support Biles during her third trip to the Olympic games. This meant he would need to miss training camp and possibly other offseason workouts.
During free agency negotiations, Owens asked all teams interested in signing him if he could travel to Paris during training camp to support his wife.
The Bears were happy to oblige and allow Owens to take some time off to go to Paris. This is part of the reason why he chose to sign with the team. After signing, Owens was impressed by how supportive the Bears locker room has been.
Jonathan Owens says the "Bears were really cool about" him going over to support his wife @Simone_Biles during negotiations. Called the Bears a first class organization. Says the locker room has been very supportive too. "Everyone is a gymnastics fans now."
— CHGO Bears (@CHGO_Bears) July 25, 2024
The news of a supportive locker room is refreshing. The Bears locker room has been reported as toxic more than once in the last 15 or so seasons. The current leadership under Ryan Poles seems to be focused on creating a place players want to play.
When will Jonathan Owens return?
According to The Independent, the final gymnastics event at the Olympics will be held Saturday, August 10. Olympics.com has Biles scheduled for events until August 5.
This means that Jonathan Owens will be in Paris for the Bears first pre-season game, the NFL Hall of Fame game on August 1. Which isn’t a huge deal, Owens is a starting caliber player, he likely would not have played in that game.
The Hall of Fame game is an opportunity for players on the bubble to show the team what they can do in a game scenario. Starters rarely appear in this game, most times, they do not.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reports that Jonathan Owens absence has been approved through August 3.
Bears safety Jonathan Owens is excused from training camp July 29-Aug. 3 so that he can attend the Olympic games in Paris to support his wife, USA gymanst Simone Biles.
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) July 22, 2024
Takeaways
The Bears are letting Owens focus on his family before his work. This choice could prove extremely beneficial for the team going forward. Building a positive workplace environment is key to attracting free agents.
Owens is a 6 year NFL veteran. Him missing about a week of training camp won’t harm anything. He is currently not an injury risk. Owens started all 19 of the Packers games last season. Owens will have plenty of time to get back into the swing of things once he returns from Paris.
The Bears first regular season game is September 8 versus Tennessee. Owens will have over a month to practice, workout, and learn the defensive plays and scheme.
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