Former Hawkeye B.J. Lowery parlays season with C.R. Titans into NFL shot

CEDAR RAPIDS – Former Iowa defensive back B.J. Lowery was looking forward to his second season with the Cedar Rapids Titans of the Indoor Football League.

That anticipation was happily muted, however, after receiving a New Year's Eve telephone call from the NFL's Denver Broncos with a 'reserve/futures' contract offer.

'I was actually hungry coming out for the second year (with the Titans),' said Lowery, 24. 'I wanted to improve everything I did in the first year.'

A reserve/futures contract means the Broncos retain Lowery's rights once the new league calendar year begins March 15.

Lowery is not eligible to join Denver this postseason, which begins Jan. 17 with a home playoff game. The Broncos (12-4) earned the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs.

'A bunch of my friends back home, right now they're the biggest Broncos fans,' said Lowery, a Cincinnati, Ohio native. 'They've switched on their teams already. … They'll be watching it, and I'll be watching it with them.'

After an all-Big Ten season with the Hawkeyes in 2013, Lowery attended an NFL minicamp with the Kansas City Chiefs. He played in all 15 games last season for Cedar Rapids, which finished 9-5 before losing the conference title game at Sioux Falls. Lowery recorded 57 tackles (3.5 for loss) and intercepted two passes.

'I feel like it helped me out a lot,' Lowery said. 'Just being out there made me focus on the small things. One little mistake in that league, and you're beat. You're beat bad. It was something that I kind of used.'

A Broncos personnel representative who remembered Lowery from 2011 Insight Bowl practices extended an invitation to a Dec. 8 workout along with 16 other defensive players, including a half-dozen defensive backs.

'I just wanted to go out there and prove myself,' Lowery said. 'Go 100 miles-per-hour. Whatever they actually do, do it 100 miles-per-hour. Give it my all, my 100 percent and I feel like that's what I did when I went out there.'

Lowery is the second member of the 2015 Cedar Rapids defense to sign with an NFL team. Linebacker Nick Haag joined the Indianapolis Colts during training camp last August, but was released before the start of the regular season.

Lowery plans to visit his former Cedar Rapids teammates at the Feb. 12 game with the Iowa Barnstormers at the U.S. Cellular Center.

'I feel like me going out there (Cedar Rapids) was a good thing,' Lowery said. 'I met guys from all across the world that I probably would have never met in my life.'

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com