Cheers! Packers Sign Molson to Practice Squad

Former UCLA kicker J.J. Molson has ties to the famous beer company.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Throughout the season, the Green Bay Packers have had a revolving door of kickers in town for tryouts. It’s not that the team was working out potential replacements for Mason Crosby. Rather, it was to have a kicker get through the COVID-19 testing regimen in case of emergency.

With the playoffs approaching, the Packers are now going for some stability. On Tuesday, they signed rookie JJ Molson the practice squad. Molson was one of those tryout kickers in November. He served a brief stint on the Chargers’ practice squad earlier this month.

In four seasons at UCLA, he made 51-of-74 field-goal attempts (68.9 percent). He made just 8-of-14 as a senior. As a sophomore, he made 17-of-21 for a career-high 81 percent. As a junior, he made a career-long 50-yarder. While his accuracy declined as a senior, he blasted 53 of his 61 kickoffs for touchbacks. That leg strength is what got him invited to the Scouting Combine.

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He said he connected on a 65-yard field goal at practice at UCLA.

A native of Montreal, his grandfather once owned the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. In case you were wondering, yes, there are beer ties.

“Yes sir. That’s my family,” he said at the Scouting Combine. “The first John Molson that came to Montreal that founded the brewery in 1786, I’m his eighth-generation descendant. So, my real name is John Molson. I just go by J.J. My grandfather (J. David Molson) owned the Montreal Canadiens from 1964-71, so he won five Stanley Cups in eight years. So, we’ve kind of got the hockey side and the beer side. I’m just trying to add the football side now.”

He grew up playing hockey, not surprisingly.

“Both of my parents (John and Miriam Molson) were very involved with my life and both were very athletic,” he said. “I played a bunch of sports growing up, and football actually was the last sport I took up, in my junior year of high school (at Selwyn House School). My coach Mike Maurovich just told me to come try out, and Gerry McGrath who played in the CFL for a long time, he was kind of my coach and my mentor and fine-tuned my kicking abilities and helped me get down to the States.”

He was drafted by the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the seventh round this year. He declined the invite, though, to focus on getting his shot in the NFL. Now, he has it.