Position: Tight end Weight: 255 lb (116 kg) | Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) College: Harvard | |
Date of birth: (1994-02-07) February 7, 1994 (age 23) High school: Ferdinand (IN) Forest Park | ||
Ben Braunecker (born February 7, 1994) is an American football tight end for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Harvard.
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Early life
Braunecker attended Forest Park High School in Indiana, where he played for the football team on offense, defense and special teams. He started for three years and was team captain for his senior year. In his high school career, Braunecker recorded 51 receptions for 1,254 yards and 16 touchdowns. As a return specialist, he had 29 kickoff returns for 1,005 yards, while on defense, he recorded 101 tackles and seven interceptions. He was twice named All-State (Honorable Mention); he was the Southwestern Indiana MVP and twice All-Conference.
College career
In his senior year, Braunecker was named a consensus All-American as he was selected to the AP FCS All-America first team, the Walter Camp FCS All-America team, the STATS FCS All-America first team, AFCA FCS Coaches' All-America team and the College Sporting News Fabulous Fifty FCS All-America team. He was also honored on the College Sports Madness All-America first team and the InstantScouting FCS All-America team. He was also named first-team All-Ivy League when he recorded 48 catches for 850 yards and eight touchdowns. He finished his college career with 68 receptions for 1,168 yards and 10 TDs.
Professional career
Braunecker attended the NFL Combine and was the fastest in the 60-yard shuttle, was ranked second in the vertical leap, broad jump, three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle and had the third-highest repetitions in the bench press of all tight ends. He was projected by many analysts to be a fourth to sixth round draft selection. NFLDraftScout.com ranked him the sixth best tight end out of the 102 available. He attended Harvard's Pro Day and was able to beat his combine time and numbers. Braunecker chose to stand on his combine numbers for his 3-cone drill, short shuttle, and bench press.
Braunecker went undrafted in the 2016 NFL Draft and was signed by the Chicago Bears after the draft.
He entered training camp battling for a backup tight end position with Khari Lee, Tony Moeaki, Rob Housler, and Greg Scruggs. Braunecker struggled with a severe ankle injury during the 2016 offseason and missed the entire preseason. He was released on September 3, but was signed to the practice squad the following day. Going into the regular season, he was the Bear's third option at tight end, behind Zach Miller and Logan Paulsen. On October 1, 2016, he was promoted to the active roster and was officially named the Bear's third tight end on their depth chart behind veterans Miller and Paulsen. He made his first NFL start against the Green Bay Packers on October 20.