It just didn't seem right that former University of Washington edge rusher Bralen Trice was done with his football career, barely two and a half years out of Montlake.
But there he was last weekend, listed among the players released or waived by the Atlanta Falcons, told good bye and good luck.
Or so it seemed.
While it's not the active roster, the Falcons re-signed the 6-foot-4, 274-pound Trice to their practice squad, which still gives him a fighting chance to maybe get on the field in real time for the Atlanta franchise someday.
Sad to say, Trice has never been on the Falcons' 53-man active roster during the season, spending each of his first two on the injured reserve list.
Two years ago, the third-round draft pick went down in the first preseason game he played with a torn ACL in his left knee.
After battling to get back a year ago, he re-injured the same knee in practice and was done once more before everything got started.
So Trice is a Falcon again, dealing with a significant financial shift in his earnings yet getting paid something.
He'll now earn $13,750 per week, totaling $247,500 if he stays on the practice squad for all 18 weeks of the regular season.
When Trice got cut, his four-year $5.93 million contract ended halfway through its life, so he's banked close to $3 million.
His game is built on speed and quickness coming off the edge and he's no doubt lost some of that ability following repeat knee injuries to the same hinge.
However, the Falcons apparently see something in Trice to be willing to bring him back and keep him in reserve should anything happen to the edge rushers ahead of him.
Huskies edge rusher Bralen Trice holds up the defensive MVP trophy at the 2022 Alamo Bowl. | USA TODAY Sports
At Washington, he became a starter for the 2022 and 2023 seasons when Kalen DeBoer's staff was in charge and the Huskies were advancing to the Alamo and Sugar bowls, where Trice was so good against Texas each time, he was named defensive MVP.
While major knee injuries are new to him, Trice has battled back before. In 2020, he stayed home in Arizona because of COVID epidemic and then returned the following season to the UW and worked his way into the rotation.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/washington as Trice Draws Practice Squad Reprieve With Falcons .
