{"id":17196,"date":"2017-04-01T01:18:27","date_gmt":"2017-04-01T05:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=17196"},"modified":"2017-04-03T10:12:36","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T14:12:36","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers-draft-desmond-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2017\/04\/01\/pittsburgh-steelers-draft-desmond-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers Should Draft Desmond King"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Desmond King<\/strong> turned a lot of heads during his junior year as a member of the Iowa Hawkeyes.\u00a0 King set the school record for interceptions in a season with eight and went on to win the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/T\/ThorJi20.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jim Thorpe<\/a> Award<\/strong>, granted to the nation\u2019s top defensive back.\u00a0 Despite being a top-ranked cornerback in 2015, King decided to return to school to get his degree.<\/p>\n<h2>Pittsburgh Steelers Should Draft Desmond King<\/h2>\n<p>In his four years at Iowa, King recorded 14 interceptions, 263 tackles, and three defensive touchdowns. King\u2019s exceptional zone coverage and above average tackling ability could lead to him transitioning to safety in the future, but for now, he\u2019s listed as a cornerback.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CNEZ0k_CcRE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Depth<\/h3>\n<p>The Pittsburgh Steelers need more depth at the cornerback position.\u00a0 The team signed <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/S\/SensCo00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coty Sensabaugh<\/a><\/strong>, who played for the New York Giants last year after being release by the Los Angeles Rams.\u00a0 Sensabaugh is a good slot cornerback, who will likely be third or fourth on the Steelers depth chart and competing with veteran <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=GayxWi20,GayxWi99&amp;search=William+Gay&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">William Gay<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Sensabaugh was a nice addition to the defensive secondary, but he isn\u2019t a proven talent.<\/p>\n<p>Gay is getting older and needs a replacement at the nickel cornerback position.\u00a0 If Sensabaugh isn\u2019t the answer, perhaps <strong>Senquez Golson <\/strong>can step up, but he\u2019s had some injury problems.\u00a0 Clearly, the Steelers need some more insurance at the cornerback position and King can help provide just that.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/CockRo00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ross Cockrell<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BurnAr00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Artie Burns<\/a><\/strong> both made some nice improvements last season, but neither are anywhere near considered elite cornerbacks.\u00a0 The Steelers not only need depth at cornerback, but they also need someone to step up and claim the number one slot.\u00a0 Cockrell may have been the most improved player on the Steelers defense last season, but he\u2019s still nowhere near elite status.\u00a0 Burns was the Steelers first round draft pick last year and proved he was worth it.\u00a0 Starting out as the nickel cornerback, Burns earned his way into the second starting cornerback position and ended up tying for the team lead in interceptions with <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/S\/ShazRy00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Shazier<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3>NFL Combine Statistics<\/h3>\n<p>At the NFL Combine, King measured at 5 foot 10 inches and 201 pounds.\u00a0 His arm length was measured at 31 and 1\/8 inches, and his hands were measured at 9 and 5\/8 inches.\u00a0 King completed 14 reps on the bench press, which isn\u2019t that important for a defensive back.\u00a0 He also registered a 34-inch vertical jump and an 117-inch broad jump.\u00a0 King ran the 20-yard shuttle in 4.18 seconds, the 60-yard shuttle in 11.57 seconds and the three-cone drill in 6.67 seconds.\u00a0 King didn\u2019t run the 40-yard dash at the Combine but decided to run it at his pro day and recorded a time of 4.52 seconds.<\/p>\n<h3>Question Marks<\/h3>\n<p>King\u2019s main criticisms have been his lack of size and speed.\u00a0 At 5&#8242; 10&#8243;, King is a bit undersized to go up against some of the bigger NFL wide receivers, but it shouldn\u2019t matter all that much if he ends up playing in the slot or at safety.\u00a0 King also relies a little too much on his hands when in coverage and that could get him flagged more when he starts playing in the NFL.\u00a0 Penalties were already a bit of a problem for King in college.\u00a0 He was penalized 11 times over his final two seasons, including five personal fouls.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<p>King is considered a leader and an \u201ciron man.\u201d\u00a0 Over his four years at Iowa, King played in more than 94 percent of the team\u2019s defensive snaps.\u00a0 King is a \u201cball hawk\u201d and a playmaker, always looking to make a game-changing plays.\u00a0 Steelers fans will be reminded of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/P\/PolaTr99.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Troy Polamalu<\/a><\/strong> a bit when they see King\u2019s highlights from college.\u00a0 He always seems to be around the ball, and whenever he makes an interception, he does everything he can to make it to the end-zone.<\/p>\n<p>King excels in zone coverage because of his ability to read the quarterback\u2019s eyes and jump wide receivers\u2019 routes.\u00a0 He also returned some punts and kickoffs in college, which shows his playmaking ability even with a lack of breakaway speed.\u00a0 King has the hands and jump-ball ability of a wide receiver, which should help make up for his lack of height.\u00a0 King also has decent strength and is a solid tackler, making him an even better fit as a Pittsburgh Steeler.\u00a0 The Steelers should make sure that King continues to suit up in black and yellow.<br \/>\nMain Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/613367924\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/613367924?et=_7mlR0biQLVmzhRspHtQcQ&amp;tld=com&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=dA6wRsvinnW81WE2BtPklibvl7Wp5TTUkbDG2UT_rIg=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Desmond King won the Jim Thorpe Award in 2015, awarded to college football&#8217;s best defensive back.  The Pittsburgh Steelers would be a perfect fit for King.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":948,"featured_media":17403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[39,175,373,1720,40,81,629,1276,830,913],"class_list":["post-17196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-steelers","tag-afc","tag-afc-north","tag-artie-burns","tag-desmond-king","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pro-football","tag-ross-cockrell","tag-senquez-golson","tag-william-gay"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}