Packers Keep Working on Special Teams After Re-Signing Ballentine

Originally posted on Green Bay Packers on SI
By Bill Huber | Last updated 3/20/23

The Green Bay Packers re-signed cornerback Corey Ballentine, the team announced on Monday. It’s a one-year deal, according to a source.

Ballentine was a sixth-round pick by the New York Giants in 2019. He started two games as a rookie and two more games in 2020. He was released at midseason in 2020 and didn’t play any defensive snaps for the Jets in 2020 or Lions in 2021.

The Packers signed Ballentine to their practice squad in September and promoted him to the active roster in November. He wound up playing in eight games, with most of the action coming on special teams, though he did receive 17 garbage-time snaps at corner.

The Packers have been mostly quiet through the first week of free agency. Most of the money has been dedicated to special teams, led by the key re-signing of All-Pro kick returner Keisean Nixon.

Also, they re-signed safety Rudy Ford, who made his mark on special teams before getting six starts on defense, and added safety Tarvarius Moore, who started 13 games his first three seasons with San Francisco but logged only 41 snaps on defense in 2022, and long snapper Matt Orzech.

Tight end Tyler Davis will be back, as well.

Orzech will challenge Jack Coco in camp. With Mason Crosby a free agency, rookie Parker White is the only kicker under contract. Veteran Pat O’Donnell is the only punter under contract. The Packers will add a player at each of those spots.

As for Ballentine, as a senior at Washburn he was a Division II All-American who won the Cliff Harris Award as the nation’s best small-college defensive player. As a senior in 2018, he had three interceptions with two forced fumbles and added three blocked kicks. For his career, he picked off five passes, forced four fumbles, blocked four kicks and had a 24.8-yard average on kickoff returns.

His all-around excellence got him an invite to the Senior Bowl, which opened the eyes of scouts and proved to him that he belonged.

His path to the NFL almost didn’t happen. “Probably the hardest time that I’ve ever been through was my freshman year of football camp,” he said. “I almost quit because it was the hardest thing I ever did. We would lift, we would be out there in the 100-degree heat, we would be hitting each other. I had a bunk bed and I was on the top bunk. I’d go home and I’d have to climb up there and my body was sore and I’m like, ‘OK, I can’t do this no more.’”