With a roster spot opened up by placing left tackle David Bakhtiari on injured reserve, the Green Bay Packers signed linebacker Kristian Welch from the practice squad to the 53-man roster ahead of Thursday night’s showdown with the Detroit Lions.
Welch, a 6-3, 240-pound linebacker out of Iowa, played in 43 games for the Baltimore Ravens before arriving in Green Bay on the practice squad this season. Of his 21 career tackles, 16 have come on special teams. He’s been on the field for 44 defensive snaps and 891 special teams snaps over three seasons.
Buy Packers TicketsWelch will provide depth at inside linebacker — where the Packers will be without De’Vondre Campbell because of an ankle injury this week — and give special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia another experienced player for the third phase. Expect Welch to play behind Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson at linebacker, but he could help solidify a special teams group that gave up a punt return touchdown last week.
Per PFF, Welch played 355 special teams snaps without committing a penalty or missing a tackle for the Ravens last season. He played snaps on five special teams phases: kickoff coverage, punt coverage, kickoff return, punt return and field goal block.
Welch is a Wisconsin native. He attended Iola-Scandinavia High School in Iola and was an All-State pick his senior year.
