Packers Bring Safety Back to Practice Squad

The Green Bay Packers made three moves to their practice squad on Tuesday, including re-signing safety Innis Gaines.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have brought back safety Innis Gaines, signing him to their practice squad on Tuesday.

The Packers also released cornerback Benjie Franklin and linebacker Ray Wilborn from their practice squad. That leaves the team with one vacancy, should they choose to fill it.

Gaines, who spent all of last season on the practice squad, might have pushed for a roster spot during training camp and the preseason if not for a nagging hamstring injury that ultimately led to his release. Back at full health, Gaines had a few suitors but chose to return to Green Bay.

A safety by trade, the Packers gave him a lot of snaps in the slot during camp.

Gaines was one of the great stories of training camp in 2021. He went undrafted and unsigned out of TCU in 2020 following knee injuries that ended each of his final two collegiate seasons. During the 2020 season, he had one workout. That was with the Packers late in training camp. The phone was quiet, otherwise, until the Packers called and offered him a futures contract at the end of the season.

In the interim, Gaines kept training and got a job in Dallas.

“Besides rehabbing, I would work out and do DoorDash to make money, make ends meet,” Gaines said last summer. “Because you get your own schedule, basically. You work when you want to work, so I worked out, then I’d get time to do DoorDash, do a couple hours of that and then do a couple hours in the evening and then hang out with my family and stuff; try make ends meet. So, that was perfect, really, the way you make your own hours. That was fun.”

Through that, the man with the nickname of “Thump” gained an appreciation for a good tip.

“I learned that the hard way,” he said. “I’m like, ‘God, I’m going to start tipping more when I pay people.’ It sucks not getting tipped like you should be. Whenever I get a DoorDash for anything, I make sure I tip the guy good, like $5, $10, at least, because I know how it was when I was doing it. You’re hoping to get a good tip and sometimes, people don’t even tip you.”

Franklin spent training camp with the Jaguars before signing to Green Bay’s practice squad. A big-time athlete, he started a couple Friday practices with a backflip. Wilborn spent last season on the Packers’ practice squad.

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