NY Jets make moves ahead of the Aug. 24 roster deadline
The New York Jets signed a couple of trench players and released cornerback/kick returner Corey Ballentine Monday afternoon, per Ethan Greenberg of the team’s official website.
The moves come a day ahead of the NFL’s Aug. 24 deadline that demands all teams cut down to an 80-man roster.
Both newcomers play in the big-heavy area. Defensive end Aaron Adeoye will fill the roster spot that Carl Lawson left behind. Speaking of Lawson, he accounted for the other transaction of the day when season-ending IR became his final 2021 destination.
Adeoye, 27, spent the majority of the last two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. Mainly a practice squad mainstay, Adeoye dressed in just one game a year ago.
The 6-foot-6, 250-pound EDGE played college ball at Southeast Missouri State and kickstarted his professional football career at the indoor ranks (Champions Indoor Football) in 2017.
The other newly-signed big man is offensive lineman Isaiah Williams, an Akron product who entered the league in 2016 as an undrafted free agent of the Washington Football Team.
Williams is a well-traveled individual who’s already experienced stints with six different NFL teams—the San Francisco 49ers representing his most recent stay. The Jets will be the young man’s seventh stop.
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Tough news for Corey Ballentine
Ballentine, 25, just hasn’t been able to stick with a franchise since entering the league in 2019 as a sixth-round choice of the New York Giants.
The Joe Douglas-led Jets scooped him up during the 2020 season after the Giants waived him. The Washburn product dressed in six total games for Adam Gase’s squad and registered 314 yards on 12 kick returns (26.2 average).
The recent cut has to sting a bit more considering his 73-yard kick return against the Green Bay Packers last Saturday stood out as one of the team’s top highlights.
We’ve seen Corey Ballentine do this before while wearing an @ichabodftbl jersey #GoBods #NFLBods pic.twitter.com/rd3XQgHYzN
— Washburn Athletics (@wusports) August 21, 2021
New York will need to cut down to 80 players on Tuesday. It’ll mark the final cut-down day prior to the big one, the Aug. 31 deadline to get down to the regular-season count of 53.
The Jets are currently readying for intra-squad practice with the Philadelphia Eagles, set to take place Tuesday and Wednesday in Florham Park, NJ. The week will conclude when the two teams square off this Friday night at MetLife Stadium to close out the 2021 preseason.
