Packers Make Surprising Move at Cornerback

One of the stars of training camp, Kalen King, who took a lot of first-team snaps down the stretch, has been released.

Green Bay Packers cornerback Kalen King (34) reacts to recovering a fumble against Seattle. | Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In the first big upset of roster cuts, the Green Bay Packers have released impressive cornerback Kalen King.

The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman was the first to report the news, which a source confirmed.

King was a seventh-round pick last year who spent his entire rookie season on the practice squad. He was among the team’s most improved players during a tremendous training camp and preseason, though.

According to Pro Football Focus, King allowed one completion in three targets for 1 yard in the preseason, a huge improvement over 8-of-10 for 66 yards as a rookie.

Did he think he had done enough?

“Yes. Definitely,” he said after the Seattle game.

“I felt like I did everything I could do, I controlled everything I could control,” he added. “At the end of the day, the decision is not up to me, but what I can control is what I put on film and what I showed the coaching staff. I’m pretty satisfied.”

He put an exclamation mark on things against Seattle, when he had a big-time open-field tackle on quarterback Jalen Milroe near the goal line and recovered a fumble.

“It means a lot, me showing that I could finish and I’m consistent,” he said. “It always feels good to make plays out there. Being that I made plays today, it only makes me feel better about the situation.”

With the release of King and Corey Ballentine, the Packers are expected to go into the regular season with Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs, Carrington Valentine, Bo Melton, Kamal Hadden and rookie Micah Robinson as the six cornerbacks.

King had an All-American 2022 season at Penn State. If he could do it again in 2023, he was in position to be a first-round pick in 2024. Instead, King struggled and wound up being the 255th of 257 selections.

A perimeter corner at Penn State, the Packers moved him into the slot. He got off to a slow start in camp and fell short of the roster and didn’t play in a single game as a rookie.

He was much better in 2025, though. So much so that, late in camp when the Packers were adjusting to injuries to cornerback Nate Hobbs and safety Xavier McKinney, the team began to move Javon Bullard out of the slot and back to safety and inserting King into the slot in the nickel package alongside the rest of the No. 1 defense.

When King played well against Seattle in the joint practice and again in the preseason game, it seemed as if he had punched his ticket.

So, King was asked what it would mean to have a quiet Cutdown Tuesday.

“It would mean a lot,” he said. “Last year, my Tuesday wasn’t really quiet. Phone was ringing. But that’s last year. This year, I feel like my approach from meetings to my nutrition, to the way I approached practice and the way I’m intentional with everything, I feel like that all went into me having the camp that I had and the performance I had in preseason, as well.”

The Packers would like to re-sign King to the practice squad but, given his film from the three preseason games, that might not be the case.

“He has a good feel of where he needs to be in the run game and also where he needs to be in the pass game,” defensive passing-game coordinator Derrick Ansley said recently. “That’s the knack for that kind of instinct. You can practice it all you want. Some guys have a better IQ than others in there and he’s one of those guys who can read it and pick it up quick. Just a Johnny-on-the-Spot-type player.”

Hadden was tremendous against Seattle, as well. He was targeted five times and allowed zero completions.

“Kamal was sticky in coverage,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “He had to have had at least three PBUs that I saw, so that was exciting. He’s got the talent. It’s just the consistency with which you play, so that was exciting to see him in a game environment go out there and do that.”

Robinson was no slouch, either. He allowed one catch out of two targets for 12 yards in the preseason, according to PFF.

“It’s in the back of your head,” Robinson said on Saturday of it being the final preseason game, “but, at the end of the day, the third game is just another game. You’re going out there every week with the same mindset and everything else will take care of itself. You just got to control the controllables, go out there and do your job and make plays.”