The Ballad of Jake Ballard
I didn’t get a chance to see the Giants lose to the Redskins live but did PVR the game and while it was disheartening to see the Giants lose, and lose to a divisional rival nonetheless, there was one bright spot, at least to me, that I wanted to highlight.
Jake Ballard.
After losing Kevin Boss to the Oakland Raiders anybody officially involved with the Giants kept saying that former third round pick Travis Beckum was going to be the man to step up and fill in for the loss of Boss. But Beckum had an unimpressive and injury-riddled pre-season and was out for the regular season opener. Stepping up in his absence was Ballard.
While 2 catches for 59 yards isn’t the most amazing stat line in the world, Ballard reminded me of a bigger Kevin Boss; a big bodied tight end (he does weigh 275 pounds) who can block and run faster than anybody his size should.
Just click on the below link that takes you to NFL.com to check out Ballard’s sweet 41 yard grab during the loss today to see his skills:
While Ballard might not be the starting tight end once Beckum comes back I don’t see any reason why he won’t be on the field as one of Eli’s targets throughout the course of the rest of the season. Ballard’s still new to the league and if he keeps working on his blocking and doesn’t get injured (he did leave the Redskins’ game with an injury) he could steal the starting job from Beckum. Especially if Eli’s gets comfortable with Ballard as he did with Boss, which I think could happen.