Packers Announce Deals For Rudy Ford & Corey Ballentine

Both players played primarily special teams for the Packers last season, though Ford ended up with a sizable role on defense as well. 

Ballentine, 26, is a former sixth-round pick of the Giants back in 2019. The Giants waived Ballentine in 2020 and he was later claimed by the Jets. New York later waived and he was later claimed off waivers by the Lions but was cut loose in November of last year and re-signed to Detroit’s practice squad. 

He signed a futures deal with the Falcons last offseason but was among Atlanta’s final roster cuts. Ballentine briefly caught on with the Cardinals practice squad before he signed on with the Packers and was later promoted to the active roster.  

In 2022, Ballentine appeared in eight games for the Packers and recorded five total tackles and one forced fumble. 

Ford, 28, was selected in the sixth round out of Auburn in 2017 by the Cardinals. He was entering the third year of his four-year, $2.54 million contract and set to make a base salary of $645,000 when he was traded to the Eagles during the 2019 preseason. 

He played out the rest of his rookie deal with the Eagles and was testing the market as an unrestricted free agent when he signed a two-year deal with the Jaguars in 2021. Jacksonville released him coming out of the preseason last year and he later caught on with the Packers. 

In 2022, Ford appeared in all 17 games for the Packers and recorded 42 tackles, three interceptions, a forced fumble, a recovery and three pass defenses.