Chad Owens

Chad Owens
No. 2     Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Chad Owens, during practice session, Sept. 2012.
Date of birth (1982-04-03) April 3, 1982
Place of birth Honolulu, Hawaii
Career information
Status Active
CFL status International
Position(s) WR/KR
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg)
College Hawaii
NFL draft 2005 / Round: 6 / Pick: 185
Drafted by Jacksonville Jaguars
Career history
As player
2005–2006 Jacksonville Jaguars
2007 Tampa Bay Buccaneers*
2007 Jacksonville Jaguars
2008 Colorado Crush
2009 Montreal Alouettes
2010–2015 Toronto Argonauts
2016–present Hamilton Tiger-Cats
*Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014
CFL East All-Star 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Career stats

Chad Owens (born April 3, 1982) is a professional American, Canadian and Arena football wide receiver and kick returner for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Hawaii and spent six seasons playing for the Toronto Argonauts.[1]

Early years

Chad Owens attended Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, and he was a three sport letterwinner and star in football, basketball, and track. In football, as a senior, he was an All-OIA white division selection, and an All-State honorable mention. As a sophomore, he garnered first team All-OIA Red Division honors, and All-State honorable-mention accolades. He was also a basketball star and as a senior, he led his team to the OIA state basketball championship. He is married to Rena Owens, with whom he has three children - Chad Jr., Areana, and Sierra-Lynn.[2]

College career

Owens became a bigger star after joining the University of Hawaii football team as a wide receiver, punt returner and kick returner. He became the featured receiver in June Jones's Run & Shoot offense, and became the number one receiver for quarterback Timmy Chang. Owens was instrumental on the Warriors teams that won both the Hawaii Bowl in 2003 and 2004 by beating the University of Houston and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

College stats

Year Team Receptions Receiving Yards Yards per Reception Receiving Touchdowns
2001 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 5 57 11.4 1
2002 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 47 550 11.7 2
2003 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 85 1,134 13.3 9
2004 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 102 1,290 12.6 17
TOTAL 239 3,031 12.7 29

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Owens was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars after his NFL debut against the Indianapolis Colts where he muffed 3 punts. He was re-signed to the Jaguars' practice squad a few days later.

Playing with the Jaguars in his first pre-season game of the 2006 season, Owens caught a 62-yard pass and scored his first NFL touchdown.

Owens was signed to the Jaguars' practice squad Nov 8, 2007 and moved to the active roster Dec 28, 2007. He played in the regular-season finale at Houston, but misplayed a punt in the 42-28 loss. Owens was again waived by the Jaguars as of January 11, 2008.

Colorado Crush

Owens signed with agent Richard "Bruno" Burnoski and signed a contract with the Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League. Owens got off to a fast start with the Crush, generating over 1600 combined yards (receiving and returns) but tore his ACL, ending his season after nine games.[3]

Montreal Alouettes

On July 14, 2009, Owens signed a practice roster agreement with the Montreal Alouettes. He was released on October 1. He was re-signed to the practice roster on October 8.

Toronto Argonauts

On June 24, 2010, the Toronto Argonauts acquired Owens from the Alouettes in exchange for a fourth round pick in the 2011 CFL Draft.[4]

On November 25, 2010, Owens was named the most outstanding special teams player in the Canadian Football League for the 2010 season.[5] Owens was a unanimous selection after leading the CFL in punt, kickoff, missed field goal returns and all-purpose yards and finishing tied for the league lead in return touchdowns (four). He became just the fifth player in league history to have over 1,000 punt and kick return yards in a season.

On November 1, 2012, in the final regular season game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Owens set the all-time record for all-purpose yards in a single season, surpassing Pinball Clemons' 1997 total of 3,840 yards. Owens did so with a 29-yard kickoff return halfway through the 2nd quarter. He finished the season with 3863 all-purpose yards, setting not only a CFL record, but also a professional football record as well. In his third full season in Toronto Chad became the first player in professional football to record at least 3,000 combined yards in back to back seasons.

On November 22, 2012, Chad won the CFL Most Outstanding Player Award finishing ahead of Calgary Stampeders running back Jon Cornish in voting conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada as well as the eight CFL head coaches. On November 25, 2012, Chad and his Argonauts finished the 2012 season with the 100th Grey Cup Championship. Owens was rated the best player in the league on the TSN Top 50 players of 2012.

On June 8, 2013 the Argos and Owens agreed to a 2-year contract extension. The deal was rumoured to make Owens the highest-paid non-quarterback in the CFL.[6]

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

On February 11, 2016, Owens agreed to a one-year contract with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.[7] On October 4, 2016, it was announced that Owens would miss the remainder of the 2016 CFL season due to a broke foot he sustained in a game against the Montreal Alouettes.[8]

Career statistics

AFL stats

Year Team Receptions Receiving Yards Yards per Reception Receiving Touchdowns
2008 Colorado Crush 61 640 10.5 10

CFL receiving stats

Year Team Games Played Receptions Receiving Yards Yards per Reception Longest Reception Receiving Touchdowns
2009 Montreal Alouettes 1 1 10 10.0 10 0
2010 Toronto Argonauts 17 46 576 12.5 63 3
2011 Toronto Argonauts 17 70 722 10.3 48 0
2012 Toronto Argonauts 18 94 1,328 14.1 60 6
2013 Toronto Argonauts 13 94 979 10.4 37 2
2014 Toronto Argonauts 11 86 989 11.5 69 7
2015 Toronto Argonauts 13 55 570 10.4 42 2
2016 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 12 58 808 13.9 51 5
TOTAL 102 506 5,982 11.6 69 26

MMA career

In the off-season following the 2012 CFL season, Owens decided to pursue MMA as a form of off-season training. Argos GM Jim Barker openly expressed his displeasure with Owens fighting in MMA, and was quoted as saying, "I think he's making a bad decision, our organization thinks he's making a bad decision". On April 6, 2013 Owens defeated Junya Tevaga by unanimous decision in an amateur bout. The organization that oversaw the fight was Destiny MMA.[9]

Personal life

In January 2015, Owens and his family moved from Hawaii to Canada full-time; he now resides in Mississauga, Ontario.[10]

See also

References

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