The Green Bay Packers added former Minnesota Vikings safety Kahlef Hailassie to the practice squad Wednesday, four days before the rivals open the 2026 season.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst also announced the signing of rookie running back Damon Bankston and the release of safety Murvin Kenion III.
The timing stands out. Green Bay visits Minnesota on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, with kickoff set for 3:25 p.m. CDT and CBS carrying the game.
Hailassie had been with the Vikings through the offseason. Minnesota waived him Aug. 30 during final cuts, then signed him to the practice squad the next day.
The Vikings released him from that unit earlier this week. Green Bay moved quickly and put him on the field for Wednesday’s practice.
The Packers listed Hailassie as a safety. The NFL transaction report called him a defensive back. Either way, he gives Green Bay another body at a thin position.
Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams, Javon Bullard and Kitan Oladapo are the only safeties on the 53-man roster. Hailassie becomes an experienced option behind that group.
Hailassie, 6-foot-1 and 193 pounds, is a fourth-year player from Western Kentucky. He signed with Kansas City as an undrafted free agent in 2023 after the Chiefs cut him at the end of camp.
Cleveland claimed him. He spent 2023 and 2024 with the Browns, appearing in 10 regular-season games. Green Bay’s announcement said he recorded six tackles, five of them solo, plus a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and two special-teams tackles.
He later spent time with Jacksonville and two stints with Minnesota. Last season he spent about two months on the Jaguars’ active roster without playing in a game, then finished the year back on Minnesota’s practice squad.
Green Bay is his fifth NFL team.
He started at Oregon in 2018 and 2019, spent a year at junior college, then finished at Western Kentucky. As a senior he had two interceptions, three sacks and eight tackles for loss.
The Vikings used him mostly at safety this preseason. He finished second on the team with 13 tackles and added an interception.
That recent time in Minnesota is part of the appeal. Hailassie knows the scheme Green Bay will see Sunday.
He has spoken before about how he tries to last in a league that keeps moving him.
“It’s really just about staying consistent in the details, even just as far as coming out here during practice, still going hard, still making sure you’re maintaining your craft. Just the little details [and] staying consistent with them,” he told Fox 9 during an earlier stay with the Vikings.
Before the 2023 draft he described himself the same way.“I see myself as a playmaker,” he told The Observer. “I make plays wherever I’m at on the field. I can play man-to-man, zones and blitz, which increases my value in versatility. I can do it all.
I feel like I’m very versatile. I can play each position. I can do everything on the field, so I displayed a lot of that [at pro day]. So, hopefully they’re going to see that.” Bankston gives the Packers another look at running back. The New Mexico product signed with the Giants as an undrafted free agent in May and was released after camp. In college he ran for 2,959 yards and 27 touchdowns. Kenion, an undrafted rookie from Nevada, had been in Green Bay through training camp. The club chose the more traveled Hailassie instead. Hailassie will wear No. 34. Whether he is elevated for Sunday is another question. For now he is on the practice squad, learning a new building and preparing to help a defense that opens against a team he just left. NFL clubs chase every small edge in Week 1. Signing a player who spent the spring and summer in the other locker room is one of them.
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