Most Important Packers – 35 to 39: Ballentine, Melton Were Ready

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will take a 90-man roster to the field for the first practice of training camp on July 22.

Here is Part 8 of our ranking of the most important players on the Packers’ roster. This isn’t just a listing of the team’s best players. These rankings consider talent, importance of the position, depth at the position, salary and draft history. More than anything, we hope you learn something about each player.

No. 39: CB Corey Ballentine

Jordan Love’s rise to stardom included his playoff destruction of the Dallas Cowboys. It wouldn’t have happened without Ballentine.

For a full two calendar years, Ballentine played zero snaps on defense and changed teams four times. A sixth-round pick by the Giants in 2019, he started the first two games in 2020. He didn’t start another game until last season, when injuries to Jaire Alexander and Eric Stokes and the trade of Rasul Douglas forced Ballentine into the lineup for six starts.

“Yeah, it’s been a while,” Ballentine said before starting against the Giants last season. “This season has obviously been up and down for me. I started on practice squad and I’ve kind of worked my way up. That’s kind of how every year my whole journey to the league has been. It hasn’t always been easy or how I thought it would be, but I just kept my head down, kept working and let it all play out how it plays out. When I get my opportunity, take that opportunity and make the best of it.”

The Packers wouldn’t have qualified for the playoffs if not for Ballentine. Of 109 cornerbacks to play at least 250 coverage snaps last season, he ranked 37th in catch rate (59.2 percent) and 28th in passer rating (81.3), according to PFF. He had an interception in Week 17 at Minnesota.

The Packers re-signed him to a one-year contract in free agency. He’ll start training camp behind Alexander, Stokes and Carrington Valentine on the cornerback depth chart. During the offseason practices, he got some work in the slot, which is Keisean Nixon’s home. If emergency strikes, Ballentine will be ready.

“I don’t do more than I need to do, I don’t do less than I need to do, I don’t make it bigger than what it is,” he said. “I do my job and let the rest handle itself.”

No. 38: WR Bo Melton

Melton’s story isn’t unlike Ballentine’s as a former draft pick who had to work and wait for his opportunity.

Melton was a seventh-round pick by the Seahawks in 2022. The Packers picked him off Seattle’s practice squad in December 2022.

Despite a strong training camp last summer, he failed to make Green Bay’s 53-man roster and wound up on the practice squad. Finally, he made his NFL debut on Thanksgiving at Detroit. He caught his first pass a few weeks later against Tampa Bay. A week after that, he caught four passes for 44 yards in the key late-season victory at Carolina.

That set the stage for the primetime showdown at Minnesota. The Packers hadn’t had a 100-yard receiving game all season, but Melton caught six passes for 105 yards and one touchdown in a blowout win at the Vikings. He added five receptions for 62 yards in the finale against the Bears and scored a 19-yard touchdown in the playoff loss against the 49ers.

“It’s all about hard work, keeping God first. That’s what I did my whole life,” Melton said during OTAs. “That’s how I was raised. Just being cut, being on practice squad, just kept doing the journey, kept pushing along. I just wanted to be ready when my time came.”

During regular-season play, Melton caught 16 passes for 218 yards. Of the 127 receivers who were targeted 23 times (Melton’s number), he ranked fifth with 2.83 yards per route. That was behind four established stars: Tyreek Hill, Nico Collins, Brandon Aiyuk and Justin Jefferson.

“I say that’s just a start,” Melton said shortly after scoring a long touchdown at practice. “It was a nice journey just to be from practice squad to playing, but my goal was never just to be a practice-squad player in general. That’s never my mindset.

“I’m wanting to be a player in this league for a long time. I’ve been around a lot of good players here that motivated me during the whole year when I wasn’t playing. When I started to play, it was nothing different. I know when you do good things, good is expected. At the end of the day, I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing. That’s been working since I was a kid.”

No. 37: P Daniel Whelan

Whelan had a strong debut season. While he ranked only 24th in average (46.2 yards, which was second-best in franchise history) and 27th in net average (39.7 yards), the only real disaster was the punt that was returned for a touchdown by the Saints in Week 3. Only 38.6 percent of his punt were returned (11th-best) and he averaged 4.51 seconds of hangtime (fourth-best), according to Pro Football Focus.

In his final five games (including playoffs), he had a net average of better than 40 yards in four. The exception? The playoff win at Dallas, when all three of his punts pinned the Cowboys inside the 10.

Where does he need to improve? In 2022, then-Packers punter Pat O’Donnell had 24 inside-the-20 punts vs. one touchback. Whelan had 18 inside-the-20s and five touchbacks. His 3.6 inside-the-20s per touchback was third-worst in the league, but he had 11 inside-the-20s and zero touchbacks in his final nine games (including playoffs).

Whelan flew solo through a strong series of offseason practices. It would be an enormous upset if he’s not the punter in Week 1.

No. 36: DE Kingsley Enagbare

Late in the playoff win against Dallas, Enagbare suffered what everyone assumed was a torn ACL.

A week later, Enagbare stood at his locker at Lambeau Field without a brace on his knee. Was the injury not as bad as feared?

“I tore it,” he said as matter-of-factly as observing water is wet. “I’m solid, though. I’m ready to start my journey.”

The journey took an abrupt detour. Yes, he had suffered a torn ACL. It was not a complete tear, though, he learned a couple months later. Through rehab, he could potentially avoid surgery.

“Man, coming back, I’d seen him walking around and jumping around, and I’m like, ‘What?’” Rashan Gary said at minicamp. “We heard the same thing that we heard last year and I’m like, ‘Man, God is good.’”

Enagbare said he’s “100 percent” healthy. He took his full complement of reps during the offseason practices.

“He’s been outstanding,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “You talk about a guy who comes to work with the right mentality each and every day, he’s the epitome of that. And I think we’ve seen the growth. We saw it last year, the growth from Year 1 to Year 2, and I think we’re still seeing that growth as he develops his body and continues to learn the game.”

Enagbare played 40.7 percent of the defensive snaps last season and recorded 35 tackles. He had two sacks and finished second on the team with eight tackles for losses.

He likes the “see ball, get ball” aspect of the new defense.

“We’re being preached to just go up field and pretty much create havoc, whether it’s sack, TFLs. Just go vertical,” he said.

No. 35: RB AJ Dillon

Just like nobody expected at the start of free agency, the Packers chose to move on from Aaron Jones but re-sign Dillon.

Entering his final season under contract, the former second-round pick who had earned comparisons to Derrick Henry had a mostly miserable season. With Jones unable to stay healthy until the stretch run, Dillon had a golden opportunity to show he was a legit No. 1 running back.

Dillon went from 4.3 yards per carry and a 61.0 percent success rate in 2021 to 4.1 yards per carry and a 56.5 percent success rate in 2022 to 3.4 yards per carry and a 50.0 percent success rate in 2023. Most damning, the offense didn’t get rolling until Dillon was out with a broken thumb and stinger and Jones was finally healthy.

Of 49 running backs with at least 100 carries last year, Dillon ranked 37th with 2.69 yards after contact, according to PFF, and 47th with a missed-tackle rate of 6.7 percent, according to Sports Info Solutions. With a physique chiseled out of granite and with quads as large as sides of beef, Dillon just didn’t make things happen on his own.

Nonetheless, Dillon is back on an unusual one-year contract. He’ll start training camp as the No. 2 back behind Josh Jacobs. Whether he stays ahead of rookie MarShawn Lloyd will depend on Dillon’s ability to run through tacklers and move piles.  

“I’ve got a bunch of motivation but it’s all internal,” Dillon said. “I’m in the best shape of my life. I feel good so I’m ready to do whatever it takes. I want to go win a Super Bowl. I’ve been here – this is Year 5 now. We’ve been close. That’s really it. I’m going to go out, work and I’m going to be a dog in whatever capacity on game day. That’s it. Motivation? I’ve got it. Discipline? I’ve got it. I’m here and trying to be great.”

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