Packer Central

Packers Sign Linebacker Christian Young to Practice Squad

The newest member of the Green Bay Packers' practice squad played cornerback, safety and a hybrid safety/linebacker position at Arizona.

Bill Huber

Packers Sign Linebacker Christian Young to Practice Squad
Packers Sign Linebacker Christian Young to Practice Squad /
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers signed linebacker Christian Young to their practice squad after a successful workout on Tuesday.

Young started 32 games over five seasons at Arizona. He started twice at cornerback as a true freshman in 2018, six games at safety in 2019, 12 games at viper – a hybrid safety-linebacker position – in 2021 and 12 games at safety in 2022. He missed most of 2020 due to injury and the pandemic.

Young went undrafted and signed with the Seattle Seahawks, where the 6-foot-1, 221-pounder moved to linebacker. He had three tackles on defense and two on special teams in the preseason.

“Wherever I can fit and play the fastest, learn the fastest, I'll be comfortable playing that,” he said at Arizona’s pro day, which the Packers attended. “I've been switching positions since I got here, so I feel like it might be the same way in the NFL.

“The game is evolving. They're moving corners to safeties, safeties to linebacker. The game is getting way faster, a lot of the positions are getting faster, and that 'tweener position for guys like me is going to help me get to the next level.”

Young finished his career with 182 tackles and 11 passes defensed. As a senior in 2022, he had 76 tackles that included a career-high 6.5 for losses.

Before his final season, he landed on Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks” list for The Athletic. Before the draft, he ran his 40 in 4.60 seconds.

The Packers are a man down at linebacker with former All-Pro De’Vondre Campbell out with an ankle injury. Before Thursday’s game, the Packers promoted Kristian Welch to the 53-man roster. That left the practice squad without a linebacker. It also meant an open spot on the practice squad, so no corresponding move was needed.

The workout included two running backs, highlighted by former 1,000-yard rusher James Robinson.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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