Packers Sign OL Braden to Practice Squad

Former Michigan standout Ben Braden has played in three NFL games but never taken a snap on offense.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have signed former Michigan guard Ben Braden to the practice squad, a source said before Wednesday’s practice.

Braden has played in three NFL games but never taken a snap on offense.

Braden was a three-year starter, including earning second-team all-Big Ten as a senior despite being slowed early in the season with a back strain. He played right tackle as a sophomore, guard as a junior and split time between left guard and left tackle as a senior.

He went undrafted in 2017 and signed with the Jets. He failed to make their roster and spent all of his rookie season and the first half of 2018 on their practice squad. Braden was promoted to the active roster for the final handful of weeks in 2018. He played in two games and logged eight snaps on special teams.

After failing to make the Jets’ roster in 2019, he spent the first half of the season on Green Bay’s practice squad and most of the second half of the season back on the Jets’ practice squad before a final-game promotion. He played five snaps on special teams.

This summer, he failed to make New England’s roster.

Braden dreamed of being the next Dominik Hasek, the Stanley Cup-winning goalie. Instead, he quit playing hockey before his junior year of high school and has had to save the quarterback on the offensive line.

“Being able to stay there and catch the puck in the glove and think that everyone’s trying to beat you at something, not letting them do it? That’s the cool part of it. You have to be quick and flexible, and as a kid, I was pretty flexible,” he told the Detroit Free Press.

Braden has been in Green Bay for a week and has cleared all the COVID-19 testing hurdles.

At the 2017 Scouting Combine, the 6-foot-6, 329-pounder put up impressive numbers with a 5.04 in the 40 and 25 reps on the 225-pound bench press.

On Tuesday, the Packers released receiver Kalija Lipscomb from the practice squad and reportedly lost another practice squad receiver, Robert Foster, to Washington’s 53-man roster.