Former Wisconsin defensive tackle Ben Barten has already taken an unusual route through the NFL, and he’s only one preseason game into the journey.
Barten signed with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent and spent rookie camp and training camp with the team before the Giants waived him on July 30. That move might have seemed like a standard roster cut for a player fighting at the bottom of the depth chart, but the path that followed turned into something far stranger.
The New York Jets claimed Barten off waivers, keeping him in the same stadium setup at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The practice facilities are about 30 miles apart, so the switch barely changed his daily routine. Then, after the first preseason game, the Jets waived him, and the Giants stepped right back in and claimed him again.
That left Barten going from New York to New York and back to New York, a waiver-wire trip that stands out even for a league built on constant roster movement. He has yet to play a regular-season NFL snap, but he’s already becoming a reminder of how quickly things can change in August.
When the Giants let him go earlier this month, Matt Sidney, a New York Giants expert, wrote, "The room became so crowded that the 6-foot-5, 324-pound Big Ben DT was viewed as expendable before the first padded practices even got underway." Now, the Giants appear to have a different view.
The timing matters, too. According to Big Blue View, "The Giants might currently be a bit thin on the defensive line. Josh Tupou and Bobby Jamison-Travis both missed practice on Tuesday for unknown reasons."
What looked like depth when Barten was first waived has started to look thinner, and Preseason Week 2 is approaching. Barten already knows the Giants’ defense, coaching staff and schemes, which only strengthens his case for sticking around longer this time.
His path has been strange, but there’s another notable detail in all of this: Barten has not cleared waivers once. Both times he was let go, another team grabbed him immediately. For a player trying to carve out a place in the NFL, that says plenty - and it’s something Wisconsin fans will be watching closely.
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The waiver/injured designation leaves several paths open, from another team making a claim to Miami placing him on injured reserve or Reiger eventually becoming a free agent. For now, the bigger issue is the missing detail: the Dolphins have not disclosed what injury he is dealing with, which makes the next step in his pro career difficult to read. [Read more 🡒]