Chicago Bears Steal Special Teams Ace From Arch Rival
While the Chicago Bears haven’t made any splash signings to this point in free agency, nobody can say they’ve been idle. D’Andre Swift arrived to help their running back room on the first day. Gerald Everett came in early today to bolster their tight end room. Now, they’ve fortified their safety room with more depth as well as landing an emerging ace on special teams. Chicago signed Jonathan Owens to a two-year deal worth $4.5 million, plucking him from the Green Bay Packers where he helped them make the playoffs with 84 tackles on defense and nine on special teams.
Owens is known best as the husband of U.S. gymnastic legend Simone Biles. However, he has carved out a productive career in his own right. Last year was the first time a team deployed him extensively on special teams duties and he flourished. He is 28 years old and has experience playing in a 4-3 system similar to the Bears. It isn’t hard to understand their interest. Owens can help in a variety of different ways. Poles and Eberflus tend to prefer players like that.
Chicago Bears continue filling key needs.
They’ve secured a viable starting running back, a #2 tight end, a starting safety, and now a backup safety who can help on special teams. That leaves edge rusher, a #2 wide receiver, quarterback, and maybe a center as their most pressing issues left to address. It is a safe assumption two of those will be handled by their two 1st round picks next month. So the question is, which of the four will Poles focus on through the remainder of free agency? It won’t be a quarterback and it feels like the center market is plucked clean. That leaves edge rushers and wide receivers.
Word is the Chicago Bears have dabbled in both markets over the past two days but nothing has materialized. Poles might be waiting for the prices to come down. Until then, the coaches will start preparing a plan for Owens. He figures to be the primary backup behind Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker. Bears fans who remember Deon Bush and DeAndre Houston-Carson can feel comfortable with him. He has the same value.