Jonathan Owens had his first near meeting with David Culley many years ago.
Only, the Houston Texans head coach never knew about it.
During the summer of 2016, Owens was a junior at Missouri Western State University in St. Louis, the training camp site of the Kansas City Chiefs. Owens used to clean the players' and coaches' rooms, making beds, putting shoes away and tidying up the dorms so that he could live rent-free on campus throughout the summer.
"Yeah, I used to work on -- we used to clean out their dorm rooms so I could stay on campus for free so I could workout up at the school over the summer to put myself in the best position," Owens said. "Actually, it's crazy, man. I used to really have like butterflies going through those guys' rooms. Like oh, my God, they play in the NFL. That's kind of where I wanted to be. It's just crazy how things come back full circle."
Things did come back full circle. The Texans defensive back recalls cleaning his head coach's room too. Culley served as the Chiefs assistant head coach and wide receivers coach at the time.
"I don't remember him then, but he's told me the story about him cleaning up my room," Culley said. "All I told him was, 'Listen, it wasn't so messy that you talked about me about that.' He said, 'Coach, if it was, I would have told you right now.'"
Owens, now in his third season with the Texans, is known for dating one of the greatest Olympic gymnasts of all time, Simone Biles. However, he's been making a name for himself with the energy he has brought to Texans training camp this year.
"The point is he's doing a great job of picking up this system," Culley said. "He's doing a heck of a job. He flies around. He does exactly what you want done from that position. Again, as I said before, that position, there's a lot of depth there, and nothing makes you better than competition, and we have great competition at that position."
Owens appeared in six games for the Texans last season. After being signed to the practice squad prior to Week 1, he was elevated to the active roster for Week 5 against Jacksonville.
