The Green Bay Packers have the opportunity to have a special defense in 2019. Kevin King, entering his third season after being taken 33rd overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, has the opportunity to be a big part of that defense. If he stays healthy, and that’s a big if.
King, who’s extremely talented and valuable near the sideline at 6’3″ and 200 pounds, has played only 15 games over the past two seasons – not even a full season’s worth of action. Injuries have been a major concern for him, with a knee injury putting him on injured reserve in 2017 and a hamstring injury taking him out in Week Nine of the 2018 season. That’s not even taking into consideration injuries he suffered at the college level, this despite the fact that he was a standout cornerback for the Washington Huskies.
When he plays, he’s as talented a corner as you’ll find in the NFL. The issue is, he’s almost never on the field for the Packers, and a hamstring injury already suffered this preseason in training camp should have Green Bay concerned about his long-term viability for the team.
Green Bay Packers Should Consider Moving on From Kevin King
King, who needs to have a great preseason in order to establish himself across from Jaire Alexander at cornerback, suffered a hamstring injury during Green Bay’s Family Night scrimmage this past week. That has led to him staying out of practice – missing valuable reps –and though it sounds like this won’t be a long-term injury, it can’t be encouraging for the Packers to have injuries already cropping up for their number two corner.
The good news is, at least for now, general manager Brian Gutekunst doesn’t appear to be extremely worried about this particular injury.
“It sounds like he’s going to be OK and it shouldn’t be a long-term thing,” he said on Monday. “We’ll kind of wait and see. Those things you usually know a little bit more in a few days here. When guys have continuous things it’s always bothersome. He was having a great camp, so far, but hopefully, he’ll be back pretty quickly.”
Though Gutekunst deflected any initial worry he did somewhat tip his hand in the latter part of his quote. “It’s always bothersome”, he said of continual injuries to specific players. And in the context of King, the Packers front office has to find his injury history particularly bothersome.
This is a player they invested major draft capital in, after all, and they’ve entrusted him to play a big role in this new-look Green Bay defense. If he continually can’t show up or can’t live up to his potential because of injury, the Packers would be wise to start looking at a contingency plan for a second corner. If King can’t be trusted to play, perhaps it’s time to give an opportunity for another player to step up – thus taking the pressure off of King as well as the Packers’ defense.
Long-Term Options for CB2
The good news for Green Bay at cornerback is that the Packers have what appears to be a potential superstar in Alexander. He’s fast, aggressive, physical and extremely confident. Green Bay isn’t afraid to have Alexander match up with their opponent’s top wide receiver and he’s always going to be ready for a challenge. Alexander has true lock-down potential, but in order to be completely effective, it would be great for the Pack to have a solid number two cornerback across from him so that opposing offenses can’t simply ignore Alexander and throw away from him.
That’s what has made the prospect of an Alexander-King one-two punch so exciting for the Packers. But Green Bay may have other viable long-term options if they decide to keep King out of the long-term plans.
Right now, believe it or not, undrafted second-year cornerback Tony Brown could end up being one of those options. Brown, who played for Nick Saban at Alabama, has taken advantage of injuries to King and second-year cornerback Josh Jackson and has flashed confidence and competence in training camp so far. He snagged a pick-six at Family Night and per Packers.com, he’s using these additional reps as a way to highlight just how good he can be for Green Bay.
“With me getting those extra reps, I take them as just more opportunity to show what I can do,” he said. “Like I always say, I’m undrafted, so I feel like I always keep an extra chip on my shoulder because of how I got into this league. So, the more chances I can get against great athletes and great competition, the better for me.”
The aforementioned Josh Jackson, though currently injured, could also become a viable option for the Packers.
If King is healthy, it makes sense for the Packers to play Jackson at nickelback, where he has experience. But the big, strong cornerback from Iowa does have some experience on the edge and he can be especially useful the more he gets used to playing man coverage. Keep in mind, he has shown flashes of being a big-time ball-hawk. He showed up in a big way last preseason for Green Bay, and in his last season for the Hawkeyes, he snagged eight interceptions as a starting cornerback for Iowa – including two taken back to the house.
Jackson or Brown both have the potential to step up long-term if Green Bay decides that the Kevin King experiment isn’t worth it.
A New Era for Green Bay
King is under contract with the Packers through 2020, but Gutekunst has shown that he’s not afraid to move on from the past in order to secure a brighter future for Green Bay.
This off-season alone saw the Packers let Clay Matthews and Randall Cobb walk in free agency and stud defensive tackle Mike Daniels was cut for salary cap reasons. All fan favorites. All players who Green Bay has been highly invested in.
Gutekunst isn’t afraid to make tough moves, which should have King on notice heading into this season.
Assuming his current injury isn’t long-term, King will still be under pressure to both perform and stay healthy, because another underwhelming season may just find him on the chopping block. And frankly, even if he does stay healthy, Green Bay should start considering life without him.
While talented, King is far from trustworthy.
Gutekunst has shown so far that the can make shrewd moves and he’s had pretty decent returns so far in free agency and in the draft. Perhaps no matter what, the Packers should start looking at other options. Whether that be Jackson, Brown, or a player we don’t know about yet, how comfortable should the Packers feel about King’s long-term viability?
The answer is “not comfortable at all,” which is why it makes sense for Green Bay – which has a three to four-year Super Bowl window right now with Aaron Rodgers on the back-nine of his career – to start considering life apart from King.
