NFL Free Agency: Jonathan Owens agrees to two-year contract with Chicago Bears, per report
Jonathan Owens has agreed to a two-year contract with the Chicago Bears, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported. He spent the 2023 season with the Green Bay Packers after starting his career with the Houston Texans.
Owens started 11 games out of his 17 appearances in Green Bay, totaling 84 tackles and two tackles for loss. It was a solid follow-up to the biggest year of his career in 2022 when he had 125 tackles and his first career sack for the Texans.
Owens – husband of gymnast Simone Biles – signed with the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent out of Missouri Western State after the 2018 NFL Draft, but was waived due to injury. He then latched on with Houston and started all 17 games in 2022.
Biles sure seems excited about the move, taking to social media to share her reaction.
More on the 2024 NFL offseason, free agency
The NFL 2024 calendar year begins at 4 p.m. ET on March 13. At that time, contracts running through 2023 officially run out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams will have a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player, starting on Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. ET and ending on March 5. Beginning March 11 through March 13 teams can enter into a legal negotiation with players who are set to become unrestricted free agents.
In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 19 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets. On April 24, the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets hits. Following the restricted free agent deadline comes the 2024 NFL Draft, which runs from April 25-27.
More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents
Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount; however, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match, that round’s pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.