GREEN BAY, Wis. — This is what Kalen King was taking a look at if he had been in a position to enter the 2023 NFL draft: A signing bonus within the vary of $7 million to $8 million as a mid-to-late first-round choose, a near-guaranteed roster spot and a shot at a direct beginning job.
This is what King bought out of the 2024 draft: A signing bonus of $80,736 and nothing greater than the prospect to earn a roster spot in coaching camp.
Such is the distinction between the dreamy lifetime of a first-round choose if gamers have been allowed to declare for the NFL draft two years after ending highschool and King’s actuality because the third-to-last participant taken in the complete draft after he needed to return to Penn State for a 3rd season.
King went from can’t-miss prospect to can’t-believe-what-he-was-watching cornerback because the draft unfolded. It wasn’t till the ultimate minutes of the seven-round draft when he bought a cellphone name from the Inexperienced Bay Packers, who picked him with the 255th general select of 257.
“Actually, I feel they might have gotten the largest steal of the draft,” stated Terry Smith, Penn State’s related head coach/defensive recruiting coordinator/cornerbacks coach.
No marvel King has “a everlasting chip” on his shoulder, as he stated finally week’s rookie minicamp.
“I really feel like I will always remember that feeling,” King stated. “And I really feel like that is solely going to make me go tougher and maintain me going ahead.”
Within the way-too-early mock drafts following the 2023 draft, no less than three of them — Professional Soccer Focus, The Athletic and Bleacher Report — projected King anyplace from the No. 15 to the No. 20 choose in 2024. Final July, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller, in a narrative debating the highest prospects at each place, wrote that both King or Alabama’s Kool-Assist McKinstry was the No. 1 nook. McKinstry ended up because the ninth choose of the second spherical and the fifth nook chosen in 2024. King was the thirty sixth and last nook picked.
“The expertise is there if he can get himself again in line and ramp up his effort,” Miller stated this week. “I by no means noticed him as an elite athlete however was technician. I would not be shocked if he discovered his means right into a nickel or dime position.”
All of it raises the query of what occurred between his second and third years at Penn State?
In 2022, King began 9 of 13 video games and led the Massive Ten (third nationally) in passes defended with 21. He additionally picked off three passes and compelled a fumble.
“That was his easiest season,” Smith stated. “He performed alongside Joey Porter [Jr.]. He was big-time. He confirmed what you guys are going to get.”
A yr later, he began all 12 video games as a junior however managed simply two move breakups and didn’t have an interception or compelled fumble.
Smith known as the distinction “a mixture of some issues,” together with Porter’s departure to the NFL as second-round choose of the Steelers in 2023.
“Generally, there is a man that desires to be Batman and possibly he is Robin,” Smith stated. “We had Joey Porter and it is simply totally different. Sitting within the [No.] 1 seat is totally different than sitting within the [No.] 2 seat. That is the one factor I can consider.
“He ready the identical means. Generally with guys, you by no means know their circle round them feeds them totally different info, however I do not know. He ready and confirmed up each day.”
Smith identified that regardless of the decline in King’s splash-play numbers, he didn’t permit a landing all season.
“On the finish of the day, a nook not giving up touchdowns is fairly profitable,” Smith stated. “We’re nitpicking as a result of we wish extra performs however on the finish of the sport, he isn’t permitting game-winning touchdowns both.”
The excellent news for King in Inexperienced Bay is that he was the one cornerback the Packers chosen amongst their 11 draft picks. This after some projections had them taking a nook within the first spherical. So there’s ample alternative regardless that the Packers have Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes, Carrington Valentine, Keisean Nixon and Corey Ballentine — all of whom are starting-caliber corners.
It is also common for the Packers to show late-round picks and even undrafted gamers into beginning cornerbacks. Simply final yr, they picked Valentine within the seventh spherical (No. 232 general), and he began 12 video games.
After which there’s new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who has seen gamers take an analogous path to the NFL as King’s and discover success.
“Among the finest that I used to be ever round was Okay’Waun Williams, who was a beginning nickel for us in Cleveland,” Hafley stated. “We took him as a tryout man, and he began over a first-round choose [Justin Gilbert].
“While you get a possibility on this league and also you profit from it, on the finish of the day it would not matter while you have been picked. However there’s loads of tales like that. He is only one that is in sort of an analogous position position-wise. I am not evaluating him to Okay’Waun; I have not seen sufficient but, however I feel Okay’Waun is likely one of the finest to play the place in a system like this.”
The 5-foot-11, 191-pound King already made himself noticeable. Throughout final weekend’s rookie minicamp, he bought some run because the nickel — a place that would swimsuit him nicely in Hafley’s system. Within the first follow, King compelled a fumble that linebacker Edgerrin Cooper returned for a landing.
If that was the “everlasting chip” on King’s shoulder popping out, then it might imply there’s extra of that to come back.
“I feel it is motivation,” Smith stated. “It is clearly not the place right here anticipated [to be drafted], and it is humbling. And I feel now some sense of actuality of that is the place folks noticed you, and that is the truth of the scenario, and now you have to go make the very best of the scenario and play with a chip in your shoulder.”
