Breaking Down Packers Newest Signing Jonathan Owens, former Houston Texans Starter

The Sideline Scoop is a newsletter dedicated to all things Packers. If you’d like to join 800+ Packers fans who receive this newsletter throughout the week feel free to subscribe.

What’s up guys. 

It’s Friday afternoon and about time for the weekend, but the Packers have signed a new player, so of course it’s time to talk about it. 

This afternoon the Packers made an addition to the safety room by signing Jonathan Owens who started all 17 games for the Houston Texans last off-season. He also happens to be the husband of famous gymnast Simon Biles. Here’s the initial announcement of his signing.

The safety room still carries the most uncertainty for the Green Bay Packers with veteran Adrian Amos still being a free agent. It felt that there might be a slight chance of Amos returning considering he still remains unsigned, but with another safety added to the room it’s pretty safe to say Amos won’t be back. Of course we won’t know this for sure until he signs with another team, but right now that’s how it’s looking. 

So now about Jonathan Owens and the impact he could have in this safety room. 

If a guy spent an entire season as a starter on any NFL team that at least shows some level of talent and consistency. The thing is in the games that Owens started last year he didn’t produce at a very high level. That’s not to say he can’t take his game to another level in Green Bay, but the Packers aren’t getting a safety who has played at an elite level. 

Here's a look at how PFF graded him in his 3 seasons with the Texans. There are some who don’t like to look at PFF grades, but I think it provides us with a pretty reliable idea of the level a player has played at. There may be slight variations at times but ultimately PFF does a good job of grading players and how they rank among the rest in the league. This is out of 100. 

Major takeaways from these grades:

• Wasn’t great in run defense
• Very good tackler overall
• Struggled in coverage 

To add another layer of context Jonathan Owens allowed a passer rating of 124.8 last season. As a comparison to current Packers safeties, last year Rudy Ford allowed a 106.8 passer rating and Darnell Savage allowed a 100.7 passer rating. 

That’s not to say Owens can’t take his play to another level in Green Bay. There are situations where a player suddenly elevates his game in a new situation. Just look at Rasul Douglas who before signing with the Packers was stuck on the Cardinals practice squad. Now look at him. I’d say he’s one of the better corners in the league. So you never really know what could happen. 

I hope that Owens can turn things around, but looking at it objectively and taking my emotions aside I don’t think the Packers safety room took a big leap forward with this signing. The one benefit that it does add to this safety room is experience. Outside of Rudy Ford and Darnell Savage there isn’t that much experience in the Packers safety room. 

To refresh you on all of the safeties on this Packers roster and last year’s PFF grades, here you go: 

• Rudy Ford- 74.6 in 443 snaps
• Darnell Savage- 47.5 in 819 snaps 
• Dallin Leavit- N/A ,only 1 snap
• Innis Gaines- 49.7 in 44 snaps
• Tarvarious Moore- 69.9 in 41 snaps, 
• Anthony Johnson Jr- rookie
• Tariq Carpenter- 63.4 in 17 snaps
• Benny Sapp III- 2023 UDFA
• James Wiggins- Cardinals 7th rounder 2021, No snaps in 2022

Interestingly enough Darnell Savage had a slightly lower grade than Owens last season. There was a point that Savage got benched last year. It was a tough season overall for Savage. Hopefully he’ll rebound in 2023. 

Right now the safety that I’m most confident in is Rudy Ford. He was signed last off-season from the Jaguars as a key special teams signing. He was known around the league for being one of the better gunners in the punting game. Now he has a chance to be the best safety on the Packers roster. 

Overall there’s still a lot of uncertainty with this position. Considering there are so many different guys in the room I wouldn’t rule out one guy taking a leap and becoming a training camp standout. One guy to keep an eye on especially will be 7th round draft pick Anthony Johnson. There were lots of draft experts who had him going much earlier. From watching one of his recent interviews he’s got the right mentality and seems eager to get on the field. 

Entering the 2023 draft safety was a big need. I wondered if we’d spend one of our first few picks on safety. That didn’t happen. I wasn’t upset at all. 

I know there is a sector of Packers fans that wished we had drafted safety Brian Branch in round 2, but personally I prefer what Gutey did instead by securing two pass catchers in WR Luke Musgrave and WR Jayden Reed. The most important thing in this year's draft was to get Jordan Love help. 

I’d rather the Packers get another 2nd round weapon for Love than a safety. Sure drafting Branch would have filled a need, but the Packers can always find a free agent safety or just wait till next year. Receiving weapons were more important this year which is why I was so satisfied with the way the Packers utilized their draft capital. 

If after 2023 we still have big needs at safety the Packers will have a choice to be buyers in free agency or use an early pick next year. 

Time will tell if the Packers have enough in the safety room to get the job done. 

Have a great weekend everybody! I’ll be out with more newsletters next week.

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.