According to a poll I posted on Twitter, Packers fans would rather have a healthy Kevin King for 12 games than a healthy Bryan Bulaga. Both players have seen extensive time on the injury report during their careers so I thought it would be interesting to see who the fan base values more for the upcoming season.
Here are the results:
Corner has been one of Green Bay’s worst position over the last five years so it’s not hard to see where fans are coming from. When King has been on the field, the defense has seen a noticeable boost.
Still, it is somewhat surprising to see fans continuously discredit the impact of Bulaga. Look no further than last season for what problems will occur when the offensive line isn’t keeping Aaron Rodgers upright. Even with his injuries, Bulaga was a solid player in 2018 and put forth one of the better performances among all their offensive linemen.
Part of me thinks fans value the Packers o-line depth more than they do corner. The team did acquire free agent Billy Turner this offseason and also selected Elgton Jenkins in the second round of the draft. Another factor could also be Bulaga entering the final year of his contract and fans are ready to get rid of him.
Behind King, Green Bay has Josh Jackson and Tony Brown as their immediate depth. During OTAs, King has been a little banged up so Jackson has started opposite of Jaire Alexander with Tramon Williams playing the slot. Jackson and Brown are both entering their second years in the NFL hoping to become a part of the defensive back rotation.
A healthy King would do wonders for the Packers 2019 season perhaps more so than a healthy Bulaga. On paper, it appears Mike Pettine’s secondary is ready to wreak havoc next season and King could be a big contributor.
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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.
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6 responses to “Packers Fans Value a Healthy Kevin King Over Bryan Bulaga”
It’s close, but would probably have to agree. When Bulaga is healthy, he’s one of the RT in the game and keeping 12 upright and healthy is crucial. But with the recent depth acquisitions on the Oline and no Breeland in the secondary, king is crucial this year.
What the heck? Since when is it a 12 game season? Any starter that can’t play 14-16 games is more of a problem than a solution. We need available football players. If you’re telling me to only expect, or to be excited at the prospect of a player playing only 75% of his possible starts, then I’d say I’d be trying to move on from that player, and replace them with one who’s talented and more available. “On average”, a typical NFL player can expect to be healthy and available for about 14.2 games out of 16 games per season. That varies slightly by position. A OL player average is 14.4, while a CB on average is 14.2. Running back is 13.3 (lowest percentage), while a QB rate on average is 14.9. It varies by position and the amount of contact. 12 games? Na, I’m looking for 15-16 from both of these guys, and if King for instance blows up again and ends up on IR again, the team needs to move on. Be clear on this also, I believe Kevin King is an incredible potential talent, and I love the “idea” of Kevin King. But again, what good is it if he’s never on the football field. My. 2
Healthy King? Really? Enough said.
Bulaga has a higher percentage of playing than King simply because he in the last year of his contract. Unfortunately I don’t think King will ever be healthy for an entire season.
“During OTAs, King has been a little banged up so Jackson has started opposite of Jaire Alexander”
Jesus Christ!!!!!!! The man just had 5 months off and he’s still “A little banged up”? The day he was drafted and walked on stage I remember thinking as I looked at him DAMN, that dude is skinny! He had on that tight shirt and was rail thin, you could see the BONES not Muscle sticking out. Could have had Watt, Marcus Williams who went to the Saints or Awuzie who went a pick before another Gem Josh Jones who went a pick before JuJu Schuster.
The 2015 draft set this franchise back a ton and 2017 isn’t looking quite as bad but those top picks have awful. If not for Jones and maybe Williams this draft is shaping up to be every bit as bad.
HOW in the hell did Murphy not see just how bad Thompson had become at his job? If all the health issues which are now being reported are true then Murphy is actually dumber than most have seemed to give him credit for.