Los Angeles Rams
The Rams selected Owens with the ninth overall pick in the 1981 NFL Draft. His reported time in the 40-yard dash was 4.65 and his bench press was 390 pounds.
He played mostly on special teams in 1981 and 1982. He made his first start against the Los Angeles Raiders in the second-to-last game of the 1982 NFL season in which he recorded 10 tackles before leaving the game with a knee injury. The injury caused him to miss the last two weeks of the season. Owens became a full-time starter in 1983, when the Rams switched to a 3-4 defense. That season he was fifth on the Rams defense with 83 tackles. He also had four sacks. In 1984 he was third in tackles with 79 and 3.5 sacks and an interception along with three fumbles recovered and a forced fumble. The following season, 1985, he was sixth in tackles with 68 (5 for a loss) and also contributed 9 sacks, third on the team. In 1986 Owens was an honorable mention All-pro by the Associated Press as the Rams defense ranked in the NFL's top 5 for the second consecutive season. In Week 3 of 1986 Owens was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week by the NFL.
Owens started every non-strike game from 1983 through 1987. In 1988 he suffered an ankle injury that limited him to 7 games (4 starts). In 1989 he was switched to inside linebacker, after spending his entire NFL career at strong outside linebacker. He played all 16 games with 10 starts. Owens totaled 453 tackles with 26.5 sacks in his Ram career with 4 interceptions.
Read more about this topic: Mel Owens
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