Rookie cornerback Kevin King was one of the few bright spots for the Green Bay Packers against the Atlanta Falcons. In fact, we’d say he was the only Packers cornerback who wasn’t an embarrassment.
King didn’t allow a reception in 46 snaps and he often matched up with Julio Jones, who none of the Packers’ other cornerbacks wanted anything to do with.
As has been noted several times during and since the Packers’ loss at Atlanta, Quinten Rollins was terrible. Damarious Randall was terrible. Davon House wasn’t much better.
The Packers replaced Rollins with King and moved Randall to the slot near the middle of the game. We hoped that signaled a changing of guard and it appears it has.
“I thought Kevin did a lot of good things,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said on Monday. “I thought he did good in his matchup opportunities. He’s a young man that had some injury things that he fought through in training camp. He’s definitely earned the opportunity to potentially play more.”
Typical McCarthy, hedging his bets.
He won’t just come out and say King is a starter, but the fact is he’s the best cornerback the Packers have right now. And by a wide margin. He better be a starter.
We’re sure King will make some rookie mistakes, but we’ll take that over a couple of third-year guys who still play like rookies.
With King and House on the outside, Randall will replace Rollins in the slot. Perhaps he can find some success there, because he wasn’t finding it as a boundary corner.
If you think back to the beginning of training camp, Randall was actually supposed to be the slot corner. Due to his smallish and non-physical nature, it’s a position Randall is no doubt better suited for.
I say throw King into the fire. A.J. Green is coming to town. King handled Julio Jones just fine. Let’s see what he’s got against Green.
The Packers will be better off later, the sooner King gets into the lineup.
The Falcons were like 0-4 or 0-5 when throwing at King. He also helped in tackling support well considering he looks slight in frame.
He was beat once by Julio on the opposite side of the field that Ryan threw to.
What’s this now? McCarthy gonna impose his will on the defensive side of the ball all of a sudden? He thinks the best defense is offense.
So does Capers, he’s said as much in the past.
This may actually be more important than winning the game. If King can become a caliber starting corner, Packers may have enough to beat ATL next time. Similar to how Tramon contained Megatron, King could keep Julio from having another 100+ day. That, and health could be key to victory. Home-field advantage is still possible.
Couldn’t agree more. If I have to see Randall flailing around another week I might throw my TV out the window
And Marty B, you gotta catch that shit fak
Randall and Rollins are bad and they are not going to get better. Unless they have a Casey Hayward reboot on another team. Get rid of them before their rookie deals are up.
Start scouring practice squads for anybody fast. Or get Shields a better helmet and roll him out there. That weed he smoked probably cured the migraines.
This is what happens when you draft a safety and a basketball player and put them at cornerback.