Ball appeared in six games, he started two of them, during his rookie campaign, and was seeing both his time on the field and production increase before a knee injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season.

At the time, the injury was thought to be relatively minor in nature, but after six weeks of being inactive on the active roster, Ball was placed on injured reserve, prematurely ending what had been a promising rookie campaign.

"It's like you're at an ultimate high, and then you go to an ultimate low, but it was something that I had to deal with," said Ball. "It was hard because you want to impress your teammates and your coaches, and once you do that and you get knocked down, it's kind of hard to put it all into perspective. Like I said, there's nothing I can do about it, just keep fighting."

And fight he did.

After missing the entirety of the team's Offseason Workout Program, Ball returned to the field for the start of Training Camp 2016, and while he admitted to at times growing frustrated through the rehabilitation process, during those moments of frustration, he leaned on the support of his teammates, particularly his fellow linebackers.