Acme Packing Company
Corey Ballentine, who made seven starts in Green Bay, has been added back to the Packers’ 91-man roster.
The Green Bay Packers announced on Monday that they have re-signed cornerback Corey Ballentine, who was released by the Indianapolis Colts last week. Ballentine signed with Indianapolis in free agency, where he received nearly half a million dollars in guarantees on his one-year deal with the team.
Prior to his stint with the Colts, Ballentine played 37 games over three seasons with the Packers, including seven starts made on the defensive side of the ball. In total, he played 581 defensive snaps (488 coming in 2023) and 415 special teams reps with Green Bay.
Last season, the only special teamers to record more snaps than Ballentine were linebacker Eric Wilson, safety Zayne Anderson, defensive end Arron Mosby, defensive end Lukas Van Ness and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper. Between Ballentine (195) and Robert Rochell (121), the Packers lost their two-most-played non-returners on special teams at the cornerback position on free agency.
Now, Ballentine will return to a team that had little proven cornerback depth. While the assumption is that Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine will be the Packers’ top outside cornerbacks going into the 2025 regular season, the team still needs to roster two or three more players at the position to get through the wear and tear of a season. Based on how the first-team rotation worked on Family Night, next in the pecking order behind that trio are probably receiver-turned-cornerback Bo Melton and Kalen King, though, Kamal Hadden was out of practice with a hip injury.
In a corresponding roster move, Green Bay released cornerback Gregory Junior, a veteran who has NFL special teams experience, to make room for Ballentine.
