Giants Waive CB Corey Ballentine, Activate OG Will Hernandez, WR Dante Pettis

Here is another update from the New York Giants and some may say it’s “shocking”. The New York Giants have just announced they are reactivating Guard Will Hernandez off of the COVID-19 list and also activating WR Dante Pettis who will be making his debut at some point with Big Blue as he was just picked up on waivers by The Giants.

In a corresponding move, The Giants have waived former 6th round pick CB Corey Ballentine. This is most certainly unexpected to me but not necessarily shocking. Ballentine was a late round sleeper out of Washburn who had a lot of athletic potential and also was a special teams standout in college. Ballentine suffered a major setback as a rookie as he was shot days after being drafted but came out with minor injuries. Unfortunately, Corey lost his teammate, who was also a close friend in the shooting.

Corey Ballentine had a fantastic start to his career as he quickly saw snaps in training camp with the first team, and he even INTs both in practice and in preseason games. His rookie season was less than stellar as he didn’t see to play up to how he played in camp, and didn’t make the most of the opportunities he was given.

With a shortage of cornerbacks in 2020, The Giants needed Ballentine to step up and be the number 2 boundary cornerback opposite of free agent acquisition, James Bradberry. Ballentine won the starting role but was quickly replaced by fellow 2nd year corner, Isaac Yiadom. Both alternated at number 2 corner most of the season and Ballentine just seemed like a liability. The Giants were right in releasing him I just didn’t think it would come this soon.

As for Will Hernandez and Dante Pettis. These were expected moves and have no reason for much analysis. Dante Pettis was just picked up and was waiting to be eligible to be activated due to COVID protocol and Hernandez seems to have been cleared to play. With Shane Lemieux playing great football, do we see a LG battle this week?

– KidBlue