Jonathan Owens' first experience with the Colts left a bad taste in his mouth.
The year was 2019, and Owens – 24 years old at the time and fresh off being waived by the Arizona Cardinals after missing the entire 2018 season with a torn ACL – had been invited to the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center for a tryout. The safety thought he crushed it, believing he was going to get signed and receive another opportunity to prove himself as an undrafted free agent and kickstart his NFL career.
Instead, Owens was told that what he showed on film hadn't translated during his in-person workout – that his explosiveness, something he took immense pride in, just hadn't been there.
"That moment will always stick with me," Owens said on this week's episode of The Colts Show. "Because I've always been the most explosive on my team. 43-inch vertical, I had the highest vertical in the whole (2017) draft class, ran a 4.4, 4.3 (40-yard dash). So for them to say that to me, it was just one of those things that hurt to hear. But man, it stuck with me.
"I told myself I'll never let this happen again. Whatever (the) next tryout I get, I'm done with that life."
Owens had to wait three more weeks before he received a call for another tryout. This time, it was the Houston Texans. In the spirit of manifestation, Owens packed his bags like he was going to be staying in Houston for the entire football season. He attacked the tryout with the kind of tenacity and spirit he'd shown on film during college – at Missouri Western State, notably a Division II school – and was signed to the Texans' practice squad that day.
"That was all I needed," Owens said. (It also meant he got to play the Colts two times a year.)
Owens remained with the Texans until 2023, when he signed with the Green Bay Packers. He stayed there for one year before joining the Chicago Bears for two seasons. Owens has played in 82 career games (35 starts) and has technically appeared in all but one game in the last four seasons; he dislocated his wrist in Week 17 of the 2021 season and was placed on injured reserve, missing Week 18. As a key member of special teams at all of his stops, as well as an impactful safety, Owens has no doubt proven he belongs in the NFL.
But the 30-year-old doesn't intend to stop doing so any time soon, as he continues to stay motivated by the fact that he's "made it" as a Division II athlete and undrafted free agent. The fact that Owens now has the opportunity to do that with the Colts and prove his growth even more, not to mention return to the Midwest as a St. Louis native? Just icing on the cake.
"Just the resilience that has taken over the years to get to this point," Owens said. "If you would have told me even my rookie year that I be where I am, I would have met my amazing wife by this point as well, and I wouldn't believe you just, you know, it's just one of those things doesn't feel like real life, especially once you're in it."
"It just gives you a different type of urgency, just because you didn't have everything – I'm not even going to say handed to you, because guys work their butt off to get to that point – (but) I didn't have those same type of opportunities coming out of high school or going to a big college or getting drafted," Owens later added. "It just created a different type of sense of urgency, a chip on my shoulder. It just makes you a little hungrier...it's a different mentality."
And of course, Owens' wife – 7-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles – only fuels his competitive nature and dreams of success even more.
"Her mentality and how she carries herself through it all with grace and the expectations of the world on your shoulders, and they expect you to do this and you keep coming out and doing it over and over and over again...just that model of consistency," Owens explained. "One thing that I've always just admired about her was that mindset. Just never waver."
