Former New York Jets Safety Burgess Owens Is In the Fourth Quarter of His Bid for Congress

Burgess Owens, who played seven seasons for the New York Jets, is running for Congress.

Burgess Owens is in the stretch run of his bid for Congress, the former NFL safety in a narrow race in Utah to unseat incumbent Ben McAdams.

As a former Pro Bowl player and a Super Bowl winner, Owens has attracted his fair share of intrigue and media buzz in a race against McAdams in Utah’s fourth congressional district. Being a Black Republican and having spoken at his party’s convention before Vice President Mike Pence this summer has only added to the intrigue around him.

A mid-October poll had Owens up by one point against Adams.

“There is no more exciting time in a game than the fourth quarter. As the seconds wind down there is the opportunity to embrace every remaining one. Though the goal is to win, the only thing that one can truly control is his/her personal effort,” Owens told Sports Illustrated’s ‘Jets Country’ this weekend.

“If exhausted, this effort begets pride in one’s self. A true winner cannot always be identified by the final score.... but instead predictably by the commitment to leave everything on the field in the process. America... on the night of November 3, as we close our eyes for sleep, let's do so knowing that for our nation in 2020 [that] ‘we left everything on the field’... Time to vote and take your friends and family with you.”

Owens was a first round pick of the New York Jets in the 1973 NFL Draft and spent seven years with the organization. In 1980, he signed with the then Oakland Raiders, winning a Super Bowl in his first year with the team. He made the Pro Bowl the following year.

A businessman after retiring from 10 seasons in the NFL, Owens has recently been involved in mentoring youth in Utah and writing books from a conservative viewpoint. He has been a frequent a popular guest on Fox News as well as repeatedly being endorsed by President Donald Trump throughout the election.

McAdams is in his first-term as a Utah congressman and is considered a moderate based on his voting record.