TJ Watt truthers may not want to hear it, but last year’s second-round corner Kevin King is off to a strong start in his second NFL season. While many people wanted the Green Bay Packers to select Watt at edge rusher during the 2017 draft, the Packers elected to trade back and take King at the start of the second round. Watt had a promising rookie season racking up seven sacks while King spent nearly half the year on injured reserve battling a shoulder injury. However, back healthy again in 2018, King has now emerged as Green Bay’s number one corner and a well-valued draft pick.
Not to say King had a bad rookie year, but he did not have the same role as he does today. Now he’s consistently lining up against opposing team’s number one receiver and holding his own in the process.
Unfortunately, King has dealt with injuries again causing him to miss two games this year, but when he’s on the field he’s been the Packers best cover corner. Per Pro Football Focus, he has only surrendered eight catches on 17 targets for an overall NFL passer rating of 76.6.
The biggest play of King’s young career came right before the bye week on Monday night taking on the San Francisco 49ers. In a tie game, quarterback CJ Beathard was moving the 49ers into field goal range before he took a shot downfield on third down and three.
Beathard was looking for his hot receiver of the night in Marquise Goodwin who was in a one on one matchup with King. King got his head turned just as the ball arrived and secured his first career interception at the 10-yard line.
“It just came down to the end,” King said after the play. “It was third down and we were actually in cover zero. It was a good call, but they actually had a pretty good call against it. (I) just played it.”
The Packers obviously went on to win the game with the help of Aaron Rodgers leading a masterful drive in the final minute, however, it would never have happened had King not made the play of the night beforehand.
King obviously has a lot more prove in his career, but we can definitely say he hasn’t been a bust.
___________________
Brandon Carwile was a Cheesehead at birth. His dad grew up attending games at Lambeau and passed on the legacy. He has covered the Packers for over five years and currently works with packerstalk.com. Find him on twitter at @PackerScribe.
___________________
