Corey Ballentine Goes from Zero to Hero as Surprise Packers Starter

Corey Ballentine has been one of the Green Bay Packers’ unsung heroes. On Monday night, he’ll face the New York Giants – the team that drafted him in 2019.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Between Nov. 2, 2020, and Nov. 6, 2022, Green Bay Packers cornerback Corey Ballentine played zero defensive snaps.

Zero.

In between, he changed teams four times, including joining Green Bay’s practice squad early in the 2022 season.

A sixth-round pick by the New York Giants in 2019, Ballentine will face his former team for the first time on Monday night. He’s played at least 30 snaps in six games this season, including starting and playing every snap the last four games.

“Yeah, it’s been a while,” Ballentine said. “This season has obviously been up and down for me. I started on practice squad and I’ve kind of worked my way up. That’s kind of how every year my whole journey to the league has been. It hasn’t always been easy or how I thought it would be, but I just kept my head down, kept working and let it all play out how it plays out. When I get my opportunity, take that opportunity and make the best of it.”

With the Giants, Ballentine – the winner of the Cliff Harris Award as the best defensive player in Division II while at Washburn – started two games as a rookie and two more in 2020. He was released by the Giants at midseason in 2020, then had stints with the New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals before landing in Green Bay.

Ballentine played four defensive snaps against the Cowboys on Nov. 13, 2022, and 12 more at the end of a blowout win over the Vikings late in the season. At training camp this summer, though, Ballentine was beaten out of a roster spot by seventh-round rookie Carrington Valentine and signed to Green Bay’s practice squad.

Professional athletes are among the most confident people in the world, but Ballentine’s was put to the test.

“There’s been times where it was hard,” he said. “Switching teams or being released for whatever reason, or things that were out of my control, it was hard at some points just believing in myself.

“But I feel like over time, I just kind of, firstly, relied on my faith and believing in God and believing that whatever is happening, it’s happening for a reason and He’ll get me through it. And to this point, He has. I feel like when there’s times where I doubt myself, I have to have something else to lean on and that’s kind of what I go to.”

Coaches and players alike like to say you don’t have to get ready if you stay ready. To his credit, Ballentine stayed ready. While on the practice squad, he wound up playing 30 snaps against the Saints and 50 snaps against the Lions in back-to-back weeks.

“When you’re in a backup role in the NFL, you have to prepare like a starter all the time and Corey does that,” said position coach Greg Williams, who was in Arizona for Ballentine’s two-week practice-squad stint with the Cardinals at the start of the 2022 season.

“Sometimes you have to do it and it’s unfair. You don’t get as many reps out on the field and see all the looks that you need to see all the time during the week. But you have to stand behind and you have to get that visual from standing behind the huddle and standing behind the play. Corey’s very attentive in meetings, asking questions, putting himself in that position. So, you really have to tip your hat to him because it’s a hard job to be a backup and then you have no idea when your number’s going to be called.”

All things considered, Ballentine has performed well in starting the last four games with Alexander sidelined by another shoulder injury and Rasul Douglas traded to Buffalo. He ranks among the team leaders with four passes defensed. Of 108 corners who’ve played at least 190 coverage snaps, his forced-incompletion rate of 14 percent is tied for 35th, according to Pro Football Focus. He’s allowed just one touchdown.

More importantly, the Packers are winning. With Ballentine and Valentine starting, Green Bay’s secondary was good enough to beat Justin Herbert and the Chargers, Jared Goff and the Lions and MVP Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs the last three weeks.

“Obviously, there’s things that I could clean up, but I feel like, so far, I’ve done pretty well,” he said. “The only thing I would like more is turnovers. But those come. I try not to force it. I don’t want to sacrifice the integrity of the defense trying to chase plays. I want to let it come to me whenever it comes. Put myself in the best position to make the play, play the ball and, when it comes, it’ll come. As of right now, I’m more focused on doing my job and then making sure we win the game.”

Going 734 days between defensive snaps and 1,148 days between starts is an unusual path, even in a sport filled with players who’ve taken circuitous routes to playing time.

But Ballentine has seen the highs of starting games as a rookie to the lows of having workouts just for a spot on the practice squad.

Now, for four games – and maybe a fifth on Monday if Alexander isn’t capable of playing through his injury – it’s all paid off. Ballentine has proven to everyone – the Packers, the rest of the league and himself – that he’s good enough to be on the field against the best quarterbacks and receivers in the NFL.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a surprise,” Ballentine said. “I didn’t really look at it in any type of way. I just went to practice one day and they were just like, ‘Hey, you’re going to be up.’ Or just kind of how everything played out this season, just getting my opportunity, getting elevated off of the practice squad, getting signed. I just stayed ready. I just kept working.

“I didn’t let the moment get too big, made plays where I needed to make plays, be where I was supposed to be, know my job, know my assignment, execute that, and don’t make it harder than it needs to be. And I really think that’s just how I got to this point. I don’t do more than I need to do, I don’t do less than I need to do, I don’t make it bigger than what it is. I do my job and let the rest handle itself.”

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