Inside The Huskies

King Retains His Cornerback Throne in Green Bay, Re-ups for Another Year

The former UW player has dealt with injuries through much of his 4-year career.
Dan Raley|
King Retains His Cornerback Throne in Green Bay, Re-ups for Another Year
King Retains His Cornerback Throne in Green Bay, Re-ups for Another Year

The Packers aren't giving up on Kevin King, no matter what happened to him in the most recent NFC championship game, where Tom Brady torched him for a 39-yard touchdown with a second left in the first half.

The 6-foot-3, 170-pound cornerback, having just completed his fourth NFL season after leaving the University of Washington, will live to play another day in Green Bay.

King will sign a 1-year, $6 million deal to return to one of the league's most storied franchises, according to several news outlets.

This is happening largely because he's that 6-3 corner who supplies considerable athleticism with his bonus height, a mixture that doesn't come in large commodities for the NFL.

Yes, King has suffered his disastrous moments at times, such as Brady's postseason poison dart at a most inopportune moment, but he still flashes tinges of greatness, making the Packers willing to be patient with him.

A former 2017 second-round pick taken just outside of the first round — he went 33rd overall — King has had difficulty staying healthy, missing 23 of 64 games over his four seasons in Green Bay. He sat out five contests last year with a quad injury.

A lot of Packers fans called for his head after Brady made him look silly on the late TD pass in January and King next was called for pass interference in the same game to extend a drive for Tampa Bay to run out the clock. 

Yet others point to the 2019 season, King's healthiest yet as a pro, where he came up with 5 of his 6 career interceptions in 15 games. 

By signing King, the Packers will keep their starting secondary intact, one that also consists of All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander and safeties Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage.

For the Huskies, King was much healthier over four seasons, starting 34 of 45 games and intercepting 6 passes. He twice was an All-Pac-12 honorable-mention selection, seemingly with even better days ahead of him in the NFL.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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