Packers free agent review: CB Kevin King
The Green Bay Packers are going into the 2021 offseason needing to make decisions on a number of important unrestricted free agents. Over the next few weeks, we’ll review the individual situation for all the major players with expiring contracts.
Next up: Kevin King, the Packers’ fourth-year corner:
Season stats
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King started all 13 games he was available for in 2020, including two postseason games. King had no interceptions and 11 missed tackles, but he did tally five pass defenses, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and 57 combined tackles. According to Pro Football Focus, King allowed a passer rating of 115.0 to opposing quarterbacks. Among NFL corners who played at least 400 snaps in coverage, he allowed the 14th highest passer rating in the NFL. During the 2020 regular season, PFF graded King as the 134th overall corner. In 64 targets, including the postseason, he allowed 45 receptions for a total of 595 yards and 13.2 yards per reception. Sports Info Solutions credited King with two dropped interceptions.
Snap counts
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King played 664 snaps on defense this past season, which was 64 percent of the total snaps for the regular season. Basically, when King was healthy enough to play, he was on the field. He also appeared in 97 percent of the snaps in the NFC Championship Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a game Packers fans will long remember him for, but for all the wrong reasons. King was out for five weeks from Week 5 to Week 10, battling an injured quad. When he finally returned in Week 11 against the Indianapolis Colts, he played 100 percent of the snaps on defense.
Season review
AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski
Green Bay had their set guys when it came corner. They never deviated from their trio of Jaire Alexander, Chandon Sullivan, and King when all three were healthy. After a breakout 2019 season, many thought King was potentially building on something special, however, he didn’t showcase the same ball-hawking skills that led to five interceptions during his third season. King was mostly solid in 2020, with a few lowlight performances. His game against Tampa Bay sticks out for his botched coverage against Scotty Miller, which resulted in a 39-yard touchdown right before halftime. Even though that play stands out, he wasn’t very good throughout the entirety of that game. Although controversial, his pass interference against Tyler Johnson ended the Packers’ season, and before that, he had already surrendered two touchdowns. During the regular season and into the postseason, King was an average corner that never did anything special or too intolerable. Yes, he had some missed tackles, but his errors were nowhere near as egregious as the ones he had against the Buccaneers. Unfortunately for King, his failures on the biggest stage may define his Packers career.
Future value to Packers
(AP Photo/Jim Mone)
Say what you want about King, but he’s a quality starter at outside corner. His length and speed are great assets for pretty much every defense. That said, his outing in the NFC Championship Game was probably his last in Green Bay. Before the season, King maybe had a decent shot at coming back. He was coming off his best season as a pro in which he was mostly healthy, starting in 15 games. King posted career-highs in interceptions, tackles, and pass defenses. Unfortunately for King, his first two seasons were muddled by injuries, as he appeared in only 15 games over his first two seasons. Then, during a five-week period in 2020, we were once again reminded of King’s fragility. When you compound King’s injury history with his horrifying mistakes one game away from the Super Bowl, you have a player in need of a fresh start with a new team. The Packers probably aren’t going to offer King the money he could get elsewhere, and they might want to look for an upgrade to pair opposite of Alexander.
