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TE Jake Ballard Waived


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From the NY papers:

 

Patriots in Super Steal

 

 

"The Giants figured waiving injured tight end Jake Ballard was little more than a procedural move, that once Ballard cleared waivers he would automatically move onto their Physically Unable to Perform/reserve list, spend the 2012 season rehabbing from his serious knee injury and make a return in 2013.

 

Ballard was waived on Monday and when he walked into the Giants field house Tuesday after 4 p.m. it seemed as if all went according to plan, that Ballard 24 hours later had cleared waivers and was back with the Giants. But it turns out Ballard came by to say goodbye. Surprisingly, the Patriots and their sly coach Bill Belichick decided to claim Ballard, who now goes from the team that won Super Bowl XLVI to the team the Giants beat in the Super Bowl last Feb. 5 in Indianapolis.

 

Ballard’s agent, Blake Baratz, on his Twitter account wrote “As I stated yesterday, a “smart’’ football organization might claim [ballard] while he’s hurt to own his rights. He’s now a Patriot!’’

 

Ballard suffered extensive ligament and cartilage knee damage in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, injuries that prompted reconstructive and also microfracture surgery to repair. There are no guarantees he will be able to resume his career and he had no chance of returning this season. The Patriots, already loaded at tight end with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, are banking on Ballard making a return – unless Belichick just wants to stick it to the Giants. The Patriots will pay Ballard $540,000 this season not to play but to rehabilitate his knee. Ballard will be an exclusive rights free agent for the Patriots after this season.

 

Asked about Ballard in the morning – when the Giants believed he would own his rights – Giants coach Tom Coughlin said the injury to Ballard’s knee “Wasn’t any worse than what was expected – what he had was upfront from the time the surgery was done.’’

 

The Giants knew the severity of the surgeries and apparently did not think any team was willing to claim Ballard with such a difficult recovery ahead of him."
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Ballard played a great game up in Foxboro....at the least, he's a good insurance policy for Hernandez and Gronkowski....and probably the best 3rd string TE in the NFL if he returns to form.

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I don't get it. The Pats just pulled a trick from the Eagle's bag... sign an injured player for what?

 

540,000

 

Peanuts, it's basically signing a player to the practice squad.

 

Now if the Patriots signed him to a 5 year, 45 million dollar contract then you could probably make a case of comparing it to the Eagles.

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I don't get it. The Pats just pulled a trick from the Eagle's bag... sign an injured player for what?

 

Spite!

 

Also, getting a player from another team can lead to learning some of the competition's playbook.

 

But in reality, this is an "in your face" crap move by none other than Belichick. He has been humiliated in 2 SB's by the Giants and this is done out of pure spite because he hates the Giants with a passion. The only coach who refused to walk across the field and shake hands after the SB. What an ass.

 

Hopefully, Ballard will collect his half million from the Pats and then sign back with the Giants afterwards. The Pats need a third TE like we need a third tit.

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540,000

 

Peanuts, it's basically signing a player to the practice squad.

 

Now if the Patriots signed him to a 5 year, 45 million dollar contract then you could probably make a case of comparing it to the Eagles.

 

Still a waste of a roster spot, no?

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Spite!

 

Also, getting a player from another team can lead to learning some of the competition's playbook.

 

But in reality, this is an "in your face" crap move by none other than Belichick. He has been humiliated in 2 SB's by the Giants and this is pure spite.

 

Hopefully, Ballard will collect his half million from the Pats and then sign back with the Giants afterwards. The Pats need a third TE like they need a third tit.

 

Exactly. The 3 TEs we have on the roster right now will be superb this year. Ballard did well for us but thank Eli for most of that.. Still we all liked and cheered for the dude. I just hope they don't try to rush him back like the Eagles did with Smith.

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Exactly. The 3 TEs we have on the roster right now will be superb this year. Ballard did well for us but thank Eli for most of that.. Still we all liked and cheered for the dude. I just hope they don't try to rush him back like the Eagles did with Smith.

They only have him for this season then he's a free agent so New England has to sign him to a contract.

 

But I doubt the will offer a whole lot because they broke the bank to sign the Gronk.

 

Ballard did well for more reasons than Eli. At Ohio State he was used almost entirely as a blocking TE. He won a prestigious lineman's award for the best player on the offensive line....the first time in history a TE had won the award. Catching the ball was just icing on the cake.

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Yep, pretty surprising. Sure, it's only a little more than half a million <_< , but he's not going to play this year, and doesn't have a contract for 2013. So, he could conceivably still be a Giant again when he is healthy enough to play.

 

That said, it doesn't change anything for 2012 for our team, we'd be going with Bennett, Pascoe and Robinson regardless, and maybe Beckum after a PUP stint if he's ready, and then there's Hopkins, if anything happens. Ballard is an effort guy, he played hard, and I appreciate what he brought. But athletically, he was probably one of the worst starting TE's in the NFL. I understand he's a bigger guy and had blocking duties, but he wasn't very good at that either, for a good portion of the year. I wish him well, and if he comes back in the future, great, I wouldn't mind him as a backup.

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The team claimed injured Giants tight end Jake Ballard with an eye on 2013. Ballard suffered a knee injury during Super Bowl XLVI against the Patriots and later had ACL and microfracture surgery.

A very optimistic timetable would put the recovery at nine months. That would be November. Ballard, 24, is more likely headed to injured reserve after being on the physically unable to perform list.

If that happens, Ballard would be an exclusive rights free agent (the Patriots assume his one-year, $540,000 contract this season) again in 2013. The team would only have to tender a minimum contract and Ballard would return to the Patriots. He would be a restricted free agent in ’14. Since Ballard was undrafted, the Patriots would only need to tender a minimum contract to retain right of first refusal if another team came calling. Ballard wouldn’t become an unrestricted free agent until ’15.

 

http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/06/12/injured-ballard-claimed-quickly/8SIavFdJ6lA4NKvUmALSCN/story.html

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Assholes.

Not sure who the bigger assholes are.....Belichick for breaking the long held gentlemen's agreement about grabbing waived injured players that are intended to left alone....or the Giants for not seeing this coming.

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I got to find the thread where people talked about how great Ballard was for the offense and how he was a "break of the mold" player.

 

Now just to have everyone say "He's shit and there's nothing special about him"

 

I don't know what you're referring to but like any other forum you have people of either extreme. Ballard was a great surprise after the outrage when Boss went to the Raiders... however I don't recall any of us saying or thinking he's a pro-bowl caliber TE. Great guy... good player for us... we all appreciated what he did. I happened to believe we're pretty good with what we have now at TE.

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I don't know what you're referring to but like any other forum you have people of either extreme. Ballard was a great surprise after the outrage when Boss went to the Raiders... however I don't recall any of us saying or thinking he's a pro-bowl caliber TE. Great guy... good player for us... we all appreciated what he did. I happened to believe we're pretty good with what we have now at TE.

 

I have never once heard what he is referring to, either. Most of us thought he was pretty middle of the road.

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Pdub, thanks for the clarification. I had thought he was a restricted free agent for 2012. I guess if he was they wouldn't have had need to waive him.

 

I think the Patriots will offer Ballard back to us after this season for a 3rd or 4th round pick, lol. We'll probably never hear about it but I honestly wouldn't be surprised. He's not a player that fits into their type of offense.

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