All eyes will be on Sunday Night Football as Micah Parsons and the Green Bay Packers travel down to the Lone Star State to face the Dallas Cowboys. There won’t be any love lost between these two teams as Parsons wants to put on a show, while ex-Packer Kenny Clark wants to prove Green Bay wrong for letting him go.
That said, we should expect some fireworks in primetime on Sunday night. However, before we get to kickoff, the Packers saw one of their former defensive backs shockingly join Dallas after getting cut by the New England Patriots.
According to ESPN’s Todd Archer, the Cowboys signed ex-Packers cornerback Corey Ballentine to their practice squad on Thursday. This is an interesting decision by the Cowboys because they could’ve signed any other free agent defensive back to their taxi squad to replace their special teams DB that was poached.
Ex-Packer Corey Ballentine Joins Cowboys Days Before Week 4 Matchup
Instead, Dallas decided to go with Ballentine, who spent three seasons in Green Bay, including last year under defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.
If you’re the Packers, you might feel a little bit of betrayal by Ballentine. And at the same time, it looks like Dallas could be grasping for straws to get any opposition research on Green Bay and what Hafley brings to the table.
However, we saw what happened when the Cowboys thought Matt Eberflus was going to give them a leg up in their game against the Chicago Bears; Dallas lost. It wouldn’t be surprising if Dallas is on the losing end again, despite the Packers being banged up on the offensive line.
When Ballentine was in Green Bay, he spent most of his time on special teams. However, he did start in six games during the 2023 season, but Hafley wasn’t the defensive coordinator.
Last year, under Hafley, the 29-year-old Ballentine appeared in 15 games (made one start) and played mostly on special teams (195 snaps). Ballentine will likely be able to help in some facets, but this Packers’ defense is different this season from what they showed on film last season.
But that doesn’t matter to the Cowboys, who are willing to pull strings for an extra advantage going into Sunday, which includes signing a former Packers defensive back. We’ll see if Dallas keeps Ballentine around after this week, which will provide more clarity on their intentions.