Packers Sign Captain of Michigan’s Championship Defense to Practice Squad

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers filled their practice squad on Saturday by signing linebacker Michael Barrett and guard Marquis Hayes.

Barrett, who was part of Michigan’s national championship defense, was a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft by the Carolina Panthers.

He was traded to the Seattle Seahawks during training camp, and he served practice-squad stints with the Seahawks and Cleveland Browns. The Browns released him last month.

Barrett played in 62 games with 35 starts over six seasons. He was third-team all-Big Ten in 2022, when he had 72 tackles, two interceptions, 3.5 sacks and five tackles for losses, and again in 2023, when he had three sacks and four tackles for losses among 65 tackles.

He plays with a physical mentality.

“Coming into the contact with bad intentions, that’s the goal every time,” he said after being drafted.

Being a late-round draft pick – and now a practice-squad player – will provide motivation.

“Honestly, I’ve always kind of been an underdog,” he said in a Panthers.com diary. “The one that’s been overlooked. I’ve always had to work my way back, using my emotions. (There’s) motivation to, not really get back at, but prove everybody wrong. I’ve heard all the negatives about me or why I didn’t get drafted higher or why this and that. They asked me if I had a chip on my shoulder from it and I feel like I have a whole bag.

“It’s kind of just been my normal throughout high school, throughout college. I’ve always had to make a name for myself and work my way from the bottom.”

At 5-foot-11 3/8 and 239 pounds, he’s a bit undersized.

“I really don’t see the size thing as being an issue. None of that matters,” Barrett said. “I’m taking on a block, like, I don’t have to be the biggest one to slip that block or go around and to make that tackle. There’s other ways to make a tackle than to take on a block or do it the basic way.”

Barrett arrived on the Michigan campus as a dual-threat quarterback recruited by Jim Harbaugh and left as a team captain.

“The fact that I’ve become the all-time winningest player in Michigan history, it left me speechless when Coach Harbaugh came and told me,” Barrett said. “Just thinking about all of the alumni, all of the great players who have come through here, being a part of all these wins. To say that I have more wins than every one of them, that’s a huge accomplishment.”

Barrett fills the spot previously held by former first-round pick Jamin Davis, who signed with the Vikings earlier in the week.

With 4.70 speed in the 40, his Relative Athletic Score was 3.84.

Hayes was a seventh-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in 2022 out of Oklahoma. He was taken one pick before the Packers selected receiver Samori Toure and five picks before 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, who was Mr. Irrelevant.

“He plays like he’s trying to finish people every snap,” then-Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said during training camp in 2022. “He’s going after people and it’s been good for the room. … When he knows where to go, he’s moving bodies and he’s coming with a purpose.”

He caught the attention of the team’s starting left tackle, D.J. Humphries.

“There’s certain stuff that you just can’t coach,” Humphries said. “We can get your feet right. We can get your technique right. But you can’t make you want to punch somebody in the face. If you don’t want to do it, you’re never going to really want to do it.”

Hayes spent his rookie season on injured reserve and all of 2023 and the start of 2024 on the Cardinals’ practice squad. He spent the last two months on Washington’s practice squad but was released this week.

At Oklahoma, he was a three-year starting left guard, with all-Big 12 second-team honors during his final season.

At 6-foot-4 7/8 and 318 pounds with 5.30 speed, his RAS was 6.40. He’s got long arms (34 7/8).

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