Former Green Bay Packer makes interception in Grey Cup victory

CB Benjie Franklin was a practice squad member during the 2022 season

The Green Bay Packers were pretty interested in cornerback Benjie Franklin back in the 2022 offseason. Despite the team only having 30 visits allowed by the league during the pre-draft process, the Packers used one of those on the relatively unknown defensive back from Tarleton State, which had recently moved up to the FCS level.

Unable to sign the defender as an undrafted free agent, as he landed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Packers had to wait until the cutdown deadline of his rookie season to add him to their roster. For the entire 2022 season, he was a member of their practice squad. He also signed a reserve/futures contract with the team after the season and remained on the Packers’ 90-man offseason roster until May 17th, when the team signed their current punter, Daniel Whelan, after a stint in the XFL.

Since being released from the Packers, Franklin has been signed by the Seattle Seahawks, the UFL’s San Antonio Brahmas and most recently the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts. On Sunday, the 28-year-old made the biggest play of his football career when he made a high-point interception against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers while the Argonauts were down 10-6 in the Grey Cup — the Candian Football League’s championship game.

To say that the interception Franklin made helped change the momentum of the game would be an understatement. Not only did Toronto get the ball back, which helped them score three more points before the end of the half, but Winnipeg was at midfield in a two-minute drill with the lead — meaning that the Blue Bombers could have easily have gone up two scores entering halftime had Franklin not made the play.

Not only did the Argonauts eventually dig themselves out of a hole, they won convincingly by a score of 41-24. Along with Franklin, former Packers offensive lineman Dejon Allen, a CFL All-Star, was also a member of the winning game. Safety Tyrell Ford, who was signed to Green Bay in 2023 after his rookie season in Canada, was unfortunately a member of the losing Blue Bombers roster. Ford, like Allen, is also a CFL All-Star.

In other Canadian news, non-Grey Cup former Packers who made the CFL All-Star team this year include receiver Reggie Begelton of the Calgary Stampeders, who had two impressive preseasons with Green Bay, and Montreal Alouettes safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy, a Canadian national who actually got his start in the NFL before the CFL. Cornerback Kabion Ento, famously a former receiver convert, was named a conference All-Star in the league and is teammates with Deqouy in Montreal.