The NFL schedule is moving forward into Week 7 and now that the San Diego Chargers have defeated the Indianapolis Colts, things officially are into next week and with injuries piling up around the league, one player that is starting to generate some interest is tight end Jake Ballard.
According to Pro Football Talk, Ballard is getting some interest from teams around the NFL and Mike Florio writes that he is getting into game shape and that he could sign with a team within a week or two. The report says that Ballard had some offers earlier in the season, including from the Baltimore Ravens when their tight ends in Dennis Pitta and Ed Dixon went down, but he did not come back since he felt he was not quite recovered from his knee injury yet.
The report says that he has been getting into shape over the past month and could be ready to sign with a team. Ballard originally was with the Giants and injured his knee seriously by tearing his ACL in the Super Bowl win against the Patriots and after the season he was plucked by the team off waivers. Eventually the New England Patriots decided to release him since he was still recovering and clearly he wasn't ready at that point to step in for Rob Gronkowski and the missing Aaron Hernandez.
Now Ballard appears ready to get back in the game after last playing 2011 with the Giants, when he had 38 catches for over 600 yards and four scores while playing in 14 games, but he has not had any game action since the Super Bowl. Ballard is still a young player and one team that could be in the market for his services is the Kansas City Chiefs, who were rumored to try and trade for old star Tony Gonzalez, although the Falcons have said that they have no plans to trade him.
The Chiefs have a stark gap at tight end while dealing with Tony Moeaki being injured and Ballard could be a solid security blanket for Alex Smith, who has the team at 6-0 and tied with the Broncos in the AFC West this season. The team has also dealt with an injury to Anthony Fasano and that could be one position where adding Ballard would help with depth. The Ravens also could be interested and another team that could fit is the Miami Dolphins, as they lost Dustin Keller this season and while Charles Clay has been solid, Ballard could slide into the offense as well.
