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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Here’s what Kalen King was looking at if he had been able to enter the 2023 NFL draft: A signing bonus in the range of $7 million to $8 million as a mid-to-late first-round pick, a near-guaranteed roster spot and a shot at an immediate starting job.
Here’s what King got out of the 2024 draft: A signing bonus of $80,736 and nothing more than the chance to earn a roster spot in training camp.
Such is the difference between the dreamy life of a first-round pick if players were allowed to declare for the NFL draft two years after finishing high school and King’s reality as the third-to-last player taken in the entire draft after he had to return to Penn State for a third season.
King went from can’t-miss prospect to can’t-believe-what-he-was-watching cornerback as the draft unfolded. It wasn’t until the final minutes of the seven-round draft when he got a phone call from the Green Bay Packers, who picked him with the 255th overall pick out of 257.
“Honestly, I think they may have gotten the biggest steal of the draft,” said Terry Smith, Penn State’s associate head coach/defensive recruiting coordinator/cornerbacks coach.
No wonder King has “a permanent chip” on his shoulder, as he said at last week’s rookie minicamp.
“I feel like I’ll never forget that feeling,” King said. “And I feel like that’s only going to make me go harder and keep me going forward.”
In the way-too-early mock drafts following the 2023 draft, at least three of them — Pro Football Focus, The Athletic and Bleacher Report — projected King anywhere from the No. 15 to the No. 20 pick in 2024. Last July, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller, in a story debating the top prospects at every position, wrote that either King or Alabama’s Kool-Aid McKinstry was the No. 1 corner. McKinstry ended up as the ninth pick of the second round and the fifth corner selected in 2024. King was the 36th and final corner picked.
“The talent is there if he can get himself back in line and ramp up his effort,” Miller said this week. “I never saw him as an elite athlete but was a good technician. I wouldn’t be shocked if he found his way into a nickel or dime role.”
It all raises the question of what happened between his second and third years at Penn State?
In 2022, King started nine of 13 games and led the Big Ten (third nationally) in passes defended with 21. He also picked off three passes and forced a fumble.
“That was his very best season,” Smith said. “He played alongside Joey Porter [Jr.]. He was big-time. He showed what you guys are going to get.”
A year later, he started all 12 games as a junior but managed just two pass breakups and did not have an interception or forced fumble.
Smith called the difference “a mix of some things,” including Porter’s departure to the NFL as second-round pick of the Steelers in 2023.
“Sometimes, there’s a guy that wants to be Batman and maybe he’s Robin,” Smith said. “We had Joey Porter and it’s just different. Sitting in the [No.] 1 seat is different than sitting in the [No.] 2 seat. That’s the only thing I can think of.
“He prepared the same way. Sometimes with guys, you never know their circle around them feeds them different information, but I don’t know. He prepared and showed up every day.”
Smith pointed out that despite the decline in King’s splash-play numbers, he did not allow a touchdown all season.
“At the end of the day, a corner not giving up touchdowns is pretty successful,” Smith said. “We’re nitpicking because we want more plays but at the end of the game, he’s not allowing game-winning touchdowns either.”
The good news for King in Green Bay is that he was the only cornerback the Packers selected among their 11 draft picks. This after some projections had them taking a corner in the first round. So there’s ample opportunity even though the Packers have Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes, Carrington Valentine, Keisean Nixon and Corey Ballentine — all of whom are starting-caliber corners.
It’s also not unusual for the Packers to turn late-round picks or even undrafted players into starting cornerbacks. Just last year, they picked Valentine in the seventh round (No. 232 overall), and he started 12 games.
And then there’s new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who has seen players take a similar path to the NFL as King’s and find success.
“One of the best that I was ever around was K’Waun Williams, who was a starting nickel for us in Cleveland,” Hafley said. “We took him as a tryout guy, and he started over a first-round pick [Justin Gilbert].
“When you get an opportunity in this league and you make the most of it, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter when you were picked. But there’s plenty of stories like that. He’s just one that’s in kind of a similar role position-wise. I’m not comparing him to K’Waun; I haven’t seen enough yet, but I think K’Waun is one of the best to play the position in a system like this.”
The 5-foot-11, 191-pound King already made himself noticeable. During last weekend’s rookie minicamp, he got some run as the nickel — a position that could suit him well in Hafley’s system. In the first practice, King forced a fumble that linebacker Edgerrin Cooper returned for a touchdown.
If that was the “permanent chip” on King’s shoulder coming out, then it could mean there’s more of that to come.
“I think it’s motivation,” Smith said. “It’s obviously not where here expected [to be drafted], and it’s humbling. And I think now some sense of reality of this is where people saw you, and this is the reality of the situation, and now you’ve got to go make the best of the situation and play with a chip on your shoulder.”