After losing a promising rookie talent at a position of need this week, the Cowboys have brought in a 73-game veteran as his replacement.
The team announced the signing of 29-year-old cornerback Corey Ballentine to their practice squad on Thursday. Ballentine was a sixth-round draft pick of the Giants back in 2019; he’s been with seven other clubs since then, including the next two teams the Cowboys are slated to face.
Ballentine takes the spot recently vacated by Zion Childress, the highly-touted undrafted free agent out of Kentucky. After initially making the Cowboys’ 53-man roster in late August, Childress was released two days later to clear roster space and then re-added to the practice squad.
Childress was elevated to the Cowboys’ gameday roster in Weeks 2 and 3 and played a total of 19 special-teams snaps before being lured away by a slot on the Houston Texans regular roster earlier this week.
Ballentine saw action in 22 games for the Giants before the Jets took him on midway through the 2020 season. A four-game stint with the Lions followed, then stays on the practice squads of Atlanta and Arizona.
The Jamaican-born journeyman landed next with the Packers, where he played for three seasons and got into 40 games (postseason included), made seven starts, and in 2023, logged his only career interception.
After spending most of this past summer with the Colts, Ballentine returned to Green Bay in August but did not make final roster cuts there. He signed a late-preseason contract with the Patriots and appeared in one regular-season game for New England before being released on Tuesday.
The @dallascowboys signed DB Corey Ballentine to the practice squad on Thursday.
— Dallas Cowboys Public Relations (@DallasCowboysPR) September 25, 2025
Over his career, Ballentine has spent much of his time on special teams, but he also provides depth for the Cowboys at cornerback, where Trevon Diggs has been working his way back to full strength and DaRon Bland tries to return from injury this week. Kaiir Elam, Reddy Steward, and Trikweze Brudges are also on the active roster, while Josh Butler, Caelen Carson, and third-round rookie Shavon Revel Jr. await their own returns.
Ballentine joins fellow cornerback Robert Rochell on the practice squad in Dallas, where he may be able to provide some insight to what the Packers were doing in training camp as recently as this summer.
After Green Bay, the Cowboys will take on another of Ballentine’s former teams- the Jets- in Week 5.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys sign ex-Packers CB Corey Ballentine ahead of Week 4 showdown