King could be looking at a promotion
GREEN BAY - Kevin
King wasn’t drafted to be a backup. From the moment the Green Bay Packers selected him with the opening pick of the 2017 NFL draft’s second round, their design was for King to start.
That promotion might be coming soon.
After watching their veteran cornerbacks struggle Sunday night against the Atlanta Falcons, the Packers are poised to remove King’s training wheels. Coach
Mike McCarthy said Monday the rookie corner “definitely earned the opportunity to potentially play more” when his team hosts the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Later, McCarthy doubled down on the premise.
“I think he’s in a position,” McCarthy said, “where he’s done a number of good things with his opportunities. If anything, he’s earned the right to potentially play more. Smooth, confident athlete. He’s getting healthy, and he looks comfortable out there.
“I like the progression Kevin’s making.”
King played 46 snaps against the Falcons, 40 more than he got in the Packers’ opener against the Seattle Seahawks. He more than held his own, including a one-on-one matchup against Julio
Jones on the goal line. In the first half, King replaced Damarious Randall as the right perimeter corner. Randall later replaced Quinten Rollins in the slot, but King stayed on the field.
King, at 6-foot-3 with a 4.43-second 40-yard time, is the Packers’ biggest and second-fastest corner (after Josh Hawkins with a 4.39 40).
He’s also the youngest (22), and with youth at the unforgiving cornerback position often come mistakes. The Packers appear willing to work through that to push along King’s development, knowing it could pay dividends later this season.
“I think as we go along,” defensive coordinator Dom Capers said, “you see these young guys, their reps increase based off of they get more comfortable. You want to be able to put them out there and have them have success. So I think Kevin, each step I think you’ll see him get more reps as we go along here.”
Capers has a history of slowly increasing snaps for rookie players. Certainly, the season’s third week would be early for King to be given a starting role. It might not be an ideal time, considering Cincinnati Bengals receiver A.J. Green comes to Lambeau Field on Sunday.
But Capers foreshadowed both King and rookie hybrid safety Josh
Jones seeing bigger roles. Jones replaced an injured
Kentrell Brice (groin)
Sunday.
“Both of those guys,” Capers said, “I think you’re going to see their reps increase.”
The Packers especially need King to develop
quickly. If they reach the NFC playoffs for a ninth straight season, there might be no shortage of elite receivers.
As they saw last season, limiting a playmaker like Jones can make all the difference in a Super Bowl trip. Fundamental issues:
Take away the offensive pass-interference penalty that nullified a 36-yard pass to Randall Cobb, and it still was an unsightly performance for tight end
Martellus Bennett in the Packers’ loss to the Falcons on Sunday night.
On a night when quarterback Aaron Rodgers was often under siege, the big free-agent signing for the Packers did him few favors. Bennett caught just five of the 11 passes thrown his way and had four drops, two of which
were wiped away by penalties. Bennett finished with 47 receiving yards, fourth-most for the Packers behind Davante Adams (99 yards), Ty Montgomery (75) and Cobb
(60).
“I just go back to the fundamentals of it,” offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett said. “It’s as simple as that, to be honest with you.”
Martellus Bennett had two drops on the first drive alone. Rodgers targeted him on a short curl to the left side of the formation, but the ball clanged off Bennett’s hands and hit the turf.
He dropped another pass two plays later — this time on a slant route — but safety Keanu Neal had a handful of Bennett’s jersey and was flagged for pass interference to wipe away the mistake.
Bennett dropped two more passes in the second quarter. First he failed to secure a low throw from Rodgers on the left side, and later he bobbled a short throw along the sideline.
Once again, Bennett was bailed out by a penalty on his fourth drop of the game. Cornerback Robert Alford was flagged for holding Adams on the opposite side of the field.
“It really just always goes back to being fundamentally sound, trusting his training,” Edgar Bennett said. “He has really good hands. We just have to be fundamentally sound in those situations, not allowing the ball to cross your eyes, things like that, extending for
the football. He’s obviously a special player, but in that case it was more fundamentals than anything else.” Adams and Jordy Nelson had nine drops each for the entire 2016 season. Cobb had the best catch percentage on the team and dropped only two passes all year.
Injury report: The Packers played without starting tackles David
Bakhtiari (hamstring) and Bryan Bulaga (ankle) against the Falcons, and during the game lost several other regulars including defensive lineman Mike Daniels (hamstring), receivers Nelson (quadriceps) and Cobb (shoulder) and safety Brice (groin).
McCarthy told reporters Monday evening he had no injury updates. He said only that none of the injuries appeared to be season-ending.
According to NFL Network and ESPN reports, the injuries sustained by Daniels, Cobb and Nelson aren’t considered serious and each player’s status is day-to-day or week-toweek.
The Packers worked out three offensive linemen Monday, according to ESPN.com: tackles
Fahn Cooper and Givens Price and guard Brandon
Thomas. Cooper was a 2016 fifth-round draft choice by the San Francisco 49ers out of Mississippi, Price signed with the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent out of Nebraska in 2016 and Thomas was a third-round pick by the 49ers from Clemson in 2014.