The Green Bay Packers paid cornerback Corey Ballentine like they believe he’s going to make the 53-man roster and contribute in 2024. According to numbers from both Over the Cap and Ken Ingalls, Ballentine received a $500,000 signing bonus, $220,000 in total per-game roster bonuses and a $100,000 in workout bonus. His base salary is $1,280,000, or slightly more than the minimum base salary for a player with five accrued seasons.
Ballentine, who started six games and played over 600 total snaps on defense and special teams last season, will have a cap number of $2,061,175 in 2024.
The only guaranteed money is the signing bonus. But if Ballentine doesn’t make the roster, he’ll still count $500,000 against the Packers cap in 2024.
The numbers suggest the Packers might have had competition to sign Ballentine in free agency. The numbers also suggest the Packers think he can compete for snaps as a backup cornerback and provide a core member of the special teams.
Ballentine set a career high and finished second on the team with seven passes defensed last season. He also tallied his first career interception in the first half of the Packers’ Week 17 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Per Pro Football Focus, Ballentine allowed 58 percent completions and a 79.4 passer rating into his coverage. He broke up more passes than Jaire Alexander despite playing only roughly 20 more snaps on defense.
Ballentine was a core special teamer in eight straight games to end the 2022 season and his first six games in 2023. The speedy cornerback, a sixth-round pick of the New York Giants in 2019, was acquired by the Packers as a practice squad signing in September of 2022.