Packers Safety Claims He Was Unaware Of Simone Biles Before Dating Her

The 2023 NFL season was headlined by celebrity couples, but the origin story of the romance between a rising Green Bay Packers safety and Simone Biles had the internet skeptical.

Of course, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift swept headlines throughout the season with fans wondering whether or not she’d be at the game they attended, and the pop star even would get animated at games, too.

But there are other notable celebrity couples in the NFL with Josh Allen reportedly dating Marvel star Hailee Steinfeld. There’s also Russell Wilson and Ciara, and New England Patriots defensive tackle Davon Godchaux is engaged to model Chanel Iman.

Biles occasionally attends Packers games to cheer for her husband Jonathan Owens, but the couple went viral on social media this week after the fifth-year safety made what fans thought was a dubious claim.

“One of my boys was like, ‘Hey man, you gotta check out this app.’ And I’m like literally have been on the app for a couple of days, man,” Owens said on the “Pivot Podcast.” “It’s like, she pops up, and I’m like, let me see what this is. Gymnastics, I never really paid attention to gymnastics. It piqued my curiosity. I’m like, OK, I see what’s up. And I come back, and I get some likes on my Instagram. … She messaged me on the app. I’m like, this got to be fake. She messaged me, this is like a Tuesday. We were texting back and forth, and then we hung out Friday. The rest is history, man.”

Owens admitted if Biles hadn’t messaged first, he might not have responded to them matching on the dating app. One of the cohosts and ESPN analyst Ryan Clark attempted to claim Biles was the lucky one. The Olympic gold medalist also was on the podcast and pointed out that when she went to “like” Owens’ profile, they matched, which meant he made the first move, and then she messaged first.

The point of the matter for the internet was the belief that Biles was lucky to have met Owens in 2020 and not the other way around as many seem to believe. For reference, Biles has 7.1 million followers on Instagram, and Owens has 397,000. The 26-year-old gymnast this week also was named The Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Year.

Another big contention about Owens’ story is the 28-year-old claiming he had no idea who Biles was because he didn’t follow gymnastics. It’s not uncommon for NFL athletes to have tunnel vision about their sport and sometimes themselves, but multiple fans pointed out that at least some of the top Olympic stars like Michael Phelps are well-known despite the majority of people not following that sport.

Reasonable people can agree Owens is a conventionally attractive person and has his merit as a solid NFL safety, but fans still will be skeptical that Biles was lucky to have married him and not vice versa.