There has been a lot of talk about reunions in the lead up to the Dallas Cowboys matchup with the Green Bay Packers this week. Micah Parsons is coming home, and Kenny Clark gets to meet up with his old friends.
Now, it seems like there’s another potential reunion brewing, albeit on a much smaller scale. According to Todd Archer of ESPN, the Cowboys are signing former Packers cornerback Corey Ballentine to their practice squad.
Technically, it’s more accurate to call Ballentine a former New England Patriots corner. After getting released from Green Bay in final roster cutdowns, he signed with the Pats practice squad and was elevated for their Week 1 game.
But, most of his professional experience has come in green and gold as, from 2022-2024, he played in 37 games and made seven starts for the Packers. Of note, he’s a fairly versatile player.
Since coming into the league in 2019, he’s played 1031 defensive snaps, with 534 of those coming with Green Bay in 2023. But, he’s also played 916 special teams snaps, showing that he can contribute in multiple facets of the game.
As a defender, he’s been competent enough. As mentioned, the majority of his defensive snaps came in 2023, during which he recorded a respectable 60.8 overall grade, including a 62.3 grade.
While those numbers are encouraging for a depth piece, he’s likely to be little more than that for the Cowboys, at least at first. It’s possible he’ll be filling the Zion Childress role after the undrafted free agent was signed from the Dallas practice squad to the Texans active roster this week.
That role was a small one as, while Childress was elevated for game day in the early games this season, he never actually recorded a defensive snap. Therefore, it’s probable that Ballentine will be recording minimum snaps for the Dallas defense.
Still, it’s at least interesting that they just so happened to be signing a former Packer the week that the two teams play. There’s been some thought that he’ll be able to help the Dallas staff and players with some signals or calls but those change so often, even week to week sometimes, that any information he’s able to contribute will be negligible.
With that in mind, don’t expect the new addition to play into the story of the game much, if at all. It’ll still come down to the stars, fittingly so for the team that wears one on their helmet.