The 90 to 1 Green Bay Packers roster countdown: No. 15 – Kevin King

Kevin King hopes he's taken the right steps to get healthy and stay healthy.

The Green Bay Packers, and their 90 players on the roster, are in the midst of their first training camp under coach Matt LaFleur. In an annual tradition from my 11 years at Packer Report, I rank the players in order of importance from No. 90 to No. 1. This isn’t just a listing of the team’s best players. Our rankings take into account talent, importance of the position, depth at the position, salary and draft history. More than the ranking, we hope you learn something about each player. (Note: The start of this series can be found with my former employer.)

No. 15: CB Kevin King ($1,931,141 cap)

At the start of training camp, the Packers lined up with King and Jaire Alexander as their primary cornerbacks. If they can line up that way for most, if not all, of the season, the team’s playoff hopes should rise exponentially.

The Packers’ cornerback corps has been demolished by injuries each of the past three seasons. King has been a big part of that in each of his first two years. As a rookie, he missed one game with a concussion before going on injured reserve to have shoulder surgery. Last year, he missed two games with a groin injury before missing the final eight with a hamstring injury. In two seasons, King has started only 11 games and played merely 32.5 percent of the defensive snaps.

“It’s definitely been frustrating but I don’t like to dwell on that,” King said early in training camp. “It’s definitely been a learning experience in terms of what I can do differently and becoming a pro in terms of taking care of my body and things like that. I’m definitely looking forward to being healthy. I had a great offseason.”

King also mentioned the need to become a better pro after going on injured reserve last season. It’s all part of maturing as a person and player, he said.

“When you come into the league, you have a childish mind-set,” he said. “You’re coming from college, where everything is so structured. You do this, this, this, basically 50 weeks out of the year. You’ve got no money. Then you come to the NFL, you’re a high draft pick, you give a guy X amount of money, you give a guy months off, and after your rookie season, you’ve got months off. And it’s easy to get lost in the sauce on things. Because there’s nobody telling you what to do. But then, you’ve got to figure it out. And it comes with time, with trial and error. You need to rest. You need to enjoy yourself. You need to have fun. You need to unplug. Those are things you absolutely should be doing. But how much of that do you do? Or maybe working out too much? You have to have that balance – and growth. You have to learn what works for you.”

What changes did he implement to his training?

“I didn’t move around as much,” he said. “I stayed with a regimen and didn’t make it a part-time job – not that that’s what I’d been doing, but it’s easy to do that. You get a lot of free time after the season. You give these young guys free time and money when they hadn’t had that before, they do X, Y and Z. If you want to stay in the league and have longevity, you learn that you want to get into a regimen. You want to be in one spot where you’re working out with the same guy, working out consistently.”

Unfortunately for King and the Packers, his good health lasted barely a week. He missed the first practice after Family Night with a hamstring injury. That’s the injury that ruined his 2018.

When healthy, King has shown signs of being a potentially excellent defender. Last year, according to Pro Football Focus, 132 cornerbacks played at least 20 percent of the coverage snaps. Of that group, King ranked 14th with 14.4 coverage snaps per reception.

His elite combination of size, length and athleticism is why the Packers made him their first draft pick in 2017 – ahead of T.J. Watt. So far, that decision has been disastrous. In 31 games, Watt has 20 sacks, seven forced fumbles, one interception and 10 passes defensed. In 15 games, King has zero sacks, zero forced fumbles, one interception and seven passes defensed.

“The best is out there,” he said. “It’s always still out there because there’s always room for improvement. I think you guys have seen a little glimpse of what I can do but I can always be better. I can always get better. I’m an above-the-shoulders type of player, anyway, so there’s little things that you get from experience that are key. With more time in the league, things get easier and things start to slow down.”