GREEN BAY, Wis. – The NFL isn’t just a sport. It’s a business.
Corey Ballentine knows that better than most.
In 2023, the Green Bay Packers probably wouldn’t have made the playoffs without Ballentine’s surprise contributions.
After the 2024 season, the Packers let Ballentine sign with the Colts in free agency.
Despite getting almost a half-million dollars guaranteed from Indianapolis, he was released on Friday.
The Packers, who weren’t particularly interested in re-signing a 29-year-old cornerback in March, signed him on Monday to add some important depth in the secondary. On Tuesday, Ballentine was on the practice field.
“Obviously, it’s never fun getting released,” Ballentine said. “It was hard. I know why they did it but, at the same time, you go through the mental battles of [losing] a little bit of confidence. Because it’s like, ‘They didn’t want me,’ in a sense. Or maybe didn’t need me at the time, and it’s like, ‘What do I need to do to change that?’
“Just kind of going through the emotions, going through the situations, what I can do myself to fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Honestly, I think the key to that is just showing up each day and doing the best I can and not having any regrets about it. As long as I put my best foot forward, however it plays out, I think I’ll be OK with it as long as I know I did the best I could that day. I pray every day, truthfully. So, I think it’ll work out. Whatever happens, I’m not really going to be too upset about it.”
In a few short days, Ballentine went from the depths of being released – of not being wanted – to returning to a team filled with familiar faces and with the possibility of making an impact.
In that sense, Ballentine’s story couldn’t have taken a better turn. But Ballentine knows the realities of the business.
“At the same time,” he said, “I know these guys operate, so I still have to work hard to get [a spot on the roster], you know what I’m saying? Nothing is going to be given to me, just showing up here. And I like that. I like that they’re going to push me to be better and hold me to a standard that I know I need to achieve, and that’s only going to help me at the end. I’m very happy to be back and glad to have the coaches that I have and the players in the locker room that’ll push me to be better.”
Ballentine’s career has been a wild one. A sixth-round pick by the Giants in 2019, he started the first two games of the 2020 season. In Week 7, he played 17 snaps on defense. Two weeks later, he was released. In seven games with the Jets, he played zero snaps on defense. In 2021, most of which was spent with the Lions, he didn’t play at all on defense.
In 2022, he landed with the Packers early in the season and wound up playing 17 snaps on defense in eight appearances. In 2023, he didn’t play at all in the first two games before suddenly and unexpectedly becoming a key figure on defense. He started six games – his first six starts since the beginning of the 2020 season – and played 30-plus snaps in a total of eight games.
Last season, Ballentine started one game and played more than five defensive snaps just twice.
Now he’s back as part of a depth chart in which only three other cornerbacks played a regular-season snap on defense last season and a fourth was playing receiver during Ballentine’s first stint with the team. If Ballentine plays like he believes he can, he could have a key role with the Packers again.
The key to making it happen?
“What anybody has to do: Make plays, be where I’m supposed to be, execute, not make the same mistake twice, and just show up every day with a good attitude, honestly,” he said. “Sometimes the road gets hard, things don’t go your way. Not getting down on yourself, coming back the next day and fixing all the issues and executing, really, and helping the team in whatever way we can to win games.”
Ballentine knows the hard road. He almost quit during his freshman season at Division II Washburn. He’s gone from starting to being released. From playing to the practice squad.
“It’s been hard, but I also think stuff like that builds character,” Ballentine said. “And I think that’s kind of what this whole team is built on, essentially. A lot of the guys in here have been through things, have experienced hardship in their lives, and we all kind of fight through it. We show that on the field, we kind of play like that. So, I’m not trying to act like my story is any different than anyone else’s, but I feel like that’s kind of part of me and I try to embrace that and show that on the field as much as I can.”