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.