Kevin King (American football)

Kevin King
refer to caption
King in 2017
No. 20 – Green Bay Packers
Position: Cornerback
Personal information
Born: (1995-05-05) May 5, 1995
Oakland, California
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight: 200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school: Bishop O'Dowd
(Oakland, California)
College: Washington
NFL Draft: 2017 / Round: 2 / Pick: 33
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career NFL statistics as of Week 1, 2018
Total tackles: 30
Forced fumbles: 0
Fumble recoveries: 0
Pass deflections: 5
Interceptions: 0
Player stats at NFL.com

Kevin Charles King (born May 5, 1995) is an American football cornerback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Washington, where he was a four-year starter for the team as a safety and a cornerback. He was selected by the Packers in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

During his time with Washington, King often played as both a safety and a cornerback where he was a multiple time All-Pac-12 honorable mention his last two years with the team. Although he played both positions in college, he was projected as a cornerback in the NFL and started five games in his rookie season. He was placed on injured reserve due to a shoulder injury that required surgery in the off-season.

Early years

King was born in Oakland, California and attended Bishop O'Dowd High School.[1] As a child, he played baseball, basketball, and football and originally wanted to play quarterback but at 5'7, could not see over the offensive line.[2] During his time in high school, he was coached by Hardy Nickerson, who played for the Packers in 2002. As a junior in high school, he had experienced a growth spurt and grew to 6'2.[2] He commented that this growth spurt made him stop playing baseball and focus on football, as he was not sure how well he could play shortstop with the few extra inches of height.[2] Prior to his senior year, he was named defensive most valuable player (MVP) at the Oakland Nike Football Training Camp.[1] He finished the season with six interceptions, leading the team. He was named to the first-team All-NorCal and first-team Division three all-state by Maxpreps.com. In addition, he also won accolades in track and field in the 110-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles.[1]

King was highly recruited coming out of high school and was ranked as a three-star prospect by Rivals.com out of a possible five-star ranking, and as the number 73 overall recruit in California.[3] He was recruited by Washington, California, West Virginia, and Arizona State. He stated that winning the MVP at the Nike Football Training Camp brought his "confidence up a bit" and that he now knew he could "play with those top guys."[4] He ultimately committed to play at Washington because he felt that he could come in and play early due to the large amount of junior and senior defensive backs.[4] He chose to major in American ethnic studies and retail management.[1]

College career

King played at Washington from 2013 to 2016. During his first year with the team, he played safety (although the team believed him to be more natural at cornerback) and saw snaps during each of the first seven games of the season.[2] He was the first true freshman to start for the Huskies in 2013. He missed several games due to injury, including his first bowl game against BYU.[5] Arguably his best game of the season came against the UCLA Bruins, where he finished with four tackles and a fumble recovery.[5]

He continued to play safety his second year on the team and played in 13 games, starting 12 of them at the safety position. The only game he did not start was against Stanford, which he missed due to an illness. King recorded his first career interception in the Apple Cup against rival Washington State, and additionally recorded four tackles. He also forced another fumble, this time against Illinois. During the first bowl game of his college career, he registered nine tackles against Oklahoma State.[5]

King continued to play well going into his junior year, as he made the switch to cornerback and recorded three interceptions in the first three games of the year playing in the nickel position.[6] He had a team-high nine tackles (two for loss), a forced fumble, and a recovery against Washington State and finished the year sitting the bowl game out due to injury.[5] His play resulted in him being made an honorable mention on the All-Pac-12 team.[7] Following this season, he considered coming out of school and declaring for the NFL draft but Huskies' co-defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake encouraged him to return for his senior year to build up more film as an outside corner which he believed was the most likely position he would play in the NFL.[2]

As a senior, King started every game of the season at cornerback and finished the year with two interceptions, 44 tackles, and 3.5 for a loss.[5] His efforts earned him a second All-Pac-12 honorable mention and an honorable mention on the Academic All-Pac-12 Team.[8][9] One of his interceptions came against Arizona State in which he caught a one-handed interception on a fade pass from Manny Wilkins in a game that they ended up winning 44–18.[10]

Professional career

Draft

King was regarded as a first- to second-round pick by Lance Zierlein of NFL.com.[11] He stated that King had rare height for the cornerback position and that he often used his length to his advantage by making it harder to catch jump balls at their highest point.[11] He also complimented that he was willing to get physical with receivers and that he had very good versatility for a defensive back. However, his speed and footwork were of concern as was his tackling form. An AFC scout went on record stating that he personally was not sure what an NFL team will do with him because he was not a physical tackler and was too tall to play against more agile receivers.[11] His coaches at Washington tried also to convey to scouts his underrated leadership ability, citing a practice in the fall training camp of his season where he abruptly stopped a practice to rally his teammates to practice better after a poor performance that day.[2] He attended the NFL Combine and ran the fastest three-cone drill of his position. His forty-yard dash time also brought him to the attention of NFL scouts.[2] He was ranked the third best cornerback by NFLDraftScout.com, the seventh best by Sports Illustrated, and the fifth best cornerback by ESPN.[12][13]

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt Arm length Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert jump Broad BP Wonderlic
6 ft 3 in
(1.91 m)		 200 lb
(91 kg)		 32 in
(0.81 m)		 9 1⁄2 in
(0.24 m)		 4.43 s 1.50 s 2.57 s 3.89 s 6.56 s 39.5 in
(1.00 m)		 11 reps 26[14]
All values from NFL combine[15]

King attended the NFL Draft and sat in the green room, a room reserved for possible first-round picks and their families, however after not being drafted chose to return to the green room for the second day of the draft.[16] The Green Bay Packers traded back four spots to the first pick of the second round and selected him with the 33rd pick in the draft.[17][18] Mike Mayock, a draft analyst for NFL Network, applauded the pick saying that he was "todays NFL corner" and that his best football was ahead of him.[11] Packers director of football operations Eliot Wolf commented that he was excited to add someone with King's size to the team and that he was expected to come in and compete for a starting job right away.[19] King commented during the Packers rookie orientation that his goal for his rookie year was to learn as much as he could and "execute on the field", and that he wanted to earn a starting job with the team.[10]

During the start of organized team activities, he was not allowed to participate because of an NFL rule that does not allow teams to practice while a rookie's school is still in session even though he had dropped out previously to focus on the draft process. During that time frame, he worked heavily with cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt to get up to speed on the playbook over the phone and via Skype.[20] Once allowed to compete, he spent his first day working on special teams as a jammer and going through individual position drills before watching 11-on-11 scrimmages.[20]

Green Bay Packers

King played in nine games his rookie year and started five of them. He spent the majority of the season dealing with a shoulder injury that at times prevented him from lifting his arm above his head.[21] In addition, the shoulder would dislocate multiple times throughout the season.[22] Although King tried for most of the season to play through the pain, he was placed on season-ending injured reserve in week 13.[21] Later in the week, it was confirmed that he would be forced to undergo surgery for his injury.[23] Following King's surgery, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst mentioned that the team had no concern about future problems with his shoulder, and that his rehab was going well.[22]

NFL career statistics

Regular season
YearTeamGPGSTacklesInterceptionsFumbles
TotalSoloAstSckSFTYPDefIntYdsAvgLngTDsFFFR
2017GB 95282260.0050000000
2018GB 225320.0000000000
Total117332580.0050000000
Source: NFL.com

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Green Bay Packers: Kevin King". Packers.com. January 23, 2018. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schnell, Lindsay (April 21, 2017). "How Kevin King, the hidden gem of an NFL-bound secondary, became a draft late riser". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Kevin King". Archived from the original on February 11, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Durkin, Jimmy (August 20, 2012). "Bishop O'Dowd High football player Kevin King commits to Washington". Bay Area News Group. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kevin King". Archived from the original on 2017-08-06. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  6. ↑ Caple, Christian (September 22, 2015). "Huskies' Kevin King has 3 interceptions in 3 games – all as a nickel back". TheNewsTribune.com. Archived from the original on June 12, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  7. ↑ Chiu, Jeff (December 1, 2015). "Pac-12 football all-Conference team announced". Pac-12 News. Archived from the original on December 2, 2015. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Pac-12 Football Awards And All-Conference Team Announced". Pac-12 Conference. November 29, 2016. Archived from the original on November 1, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Pac-12 Announces Football All-Academic Teams". Pac-12 Conference. November 30, 2016. Archived from the original on January 25, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Wilde, Jason (May 9, 2017). "Packers: Top draft pick Kevin King intent about 'making plays'". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Zierlein, Lance. "Kevin King Draft Profile". NFL.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2017. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  12. ↑ Burke, Chris (April 24, 2017). "2017 NFL draft rankings: Top prospects by position". SI.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-08. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  13. ↑ Legwold, Jeff (April 22, 2017). "Ranking 2017's draft top 100 players". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-28. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  14. ↑ "2017 NFL draft: Green Bay Packers picks". PackersNews.com. April 30, 2017. Archived from the original on April 21, 2018. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Kevin King Combine Profile", NFL.com, archived from the original on May 8, 2017, retrieved April 16, 2017
  16. ↑ Reid, Jason (April 29, 2017). "Green Bay Packers give Kevin King his moment at NFL draft". The Undefeated. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Packers take cornerback with first pick". Packers.com. April 28, 2017. Archived from the original on April 29, 2017.
  18. ↑ McGinn, Bob (April 27, 2017). "Packers trade first-round pick to Browns". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  19. ↑ Hodkiewicz, Wes (April 28, 2017). "Waiting extra day worked out for Kevin King". Packers.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  20. 1 2 Huber, Bill (June 13, 2017). "King Finally Allowed to Practice". Scout.com. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  21. 1 2 Demovsky, Rob (December 6, 2017). "Packers rookie CB Kevin King done for season". ESPN. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  22. 1 2 Williams, Charean (January 25, 2018). "Packers have no long-term concerns about Kevin King's shoulder". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  23. ↑ Hodkiewicz, Wes (December 7, 2017). "McCarthy: CB Kevin King will undergo shoulder surgery". Packers.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
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