We broke down what will be the most intriguing positional battle for the Green Bay Packers this summer — cornerback — last week. Figuring prominently in that battle will Davon House, Damarious Randall, LaDarius Gunter and rookie Kevin King.
While King was drafted to be an eventual starter, it would be out of the ordinary if he turned out to be a day one starter. As we’ve seen in years past, the Packers rarely start rookies — even top draft picks — immediately.
King may be different, however.
It sounds as if the Packers are expecting a lot from him. The Press Gazette dropped this nugget into their preview of the cornerback battle over the weekend: At 6-foot-3 and running a 4.43-second 40, King is expected by the team to be an immediate starter and eventual No. 1 corner.
Now, whether that is actually the case, we don’t know for sure. That comment wasn’t sourced or credited to anyone.
What we can assume is King will be given every opportunity to compete and win one of the two outside cornerback jobs. Based on what we’ve seen historically, he’ll need to prove he’s ready, however.
The Packers aren’t going to just throw him out there in some sort of trial by fire when they have experienced options on the roster.
Well, that is a mistake. If you are hedging your defense’s well-being on a rookie corner, that isn’t good. But, they put themselves in that situation.
The Falcons drafted guys with speed to fix their defense. Last year they drafted Keanu Neal and Deion Jones and the year before that they drafted Vic Beasley. Their defense should be good again because they drafted speed.
Some recent high pick corners have panned out in the NFL. I hope they truly allow this to be an open competition though, not pandering to contract, years, or draft position. LET THEM FIGHT!
I think King will be be a stud, along with Josh Jones.
I wish nothing nut the best for Kevin King. I honestly believe him and Josh Jones will be steals/studs of the draft. Those 2 are athletic and they are what our defense needs. But however, our defense still is average. Let’s not act like this draft will all of a sudden make it great again. Those 2 picks are a start (no Ted did not draft King or Jones, that was Eliot Wolf). What Eliot Wolf needs to do next year is to draft a fast middle linebacker (a Deion Jones type), and 2 fast corners (O say sign Malcolm Butler next year without overpaying and draft another one) if Randall and Rollins struggle again. I do think that before Ted leaves he would want to extend Rodgers contract before Wolf or someone else calls the shots at the draft.
Packers need to do what the Falcons did to fix their defense: draft guys with speed.
*but