Kalen King Has ‘Permanent Chip on Shoulder’ After Stunning Fall

After an All-American season in 2022, Kalen King was a projected first-round draft pick. In the 2024 NFL Draft, he was the 255th of 257 players selected.

Kalen King / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The dust hadn’t settled on the 2023 NFL Draft when mock drafts for 2024 were unveiled.

At Pro Football Focus, Kalen King was slated to go 15th overall. At The Athletic, Dane Brugler had King going 16th. At Bleacher Report, King was the 20th pick.

On Saturday, the Green Bay Packers made King the 255th of 257 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft.

What happened? How did King go from an All-American who ranked third nationally with 21 passes defensed in 2022 to the 36th of 36 cornerbacks selected this weekend?

On a Zoom call shortly after the pick, King answered the question emotionally.

“I feel like the way I approach the game is always the same,” he said. “I put in the work and I know what I’m capable of. Just because I got picked towards the end of the seventh round this year doesn’t mean that’s the player I am. That’s just where I was slotted to be.

“Going to go into the NFL, my career really starts now. Anything before this point, I feel like doesn’t matter anymore. With me having this opportunity with the Green Bay Packers, I feel like nothing happened last year. Everything is happening exactly how it’s supposed to. To answer your question, I feel like everything happens for a reason and I feel like I’m in the right place now.

King, indeed, fell into a perfect spot. He was the only cornerback drafted by the Packers, who aren’t exactly strong at the position. The incumbent starter will be Carrington Valentine, who was a seventh-round pick last year.

Still, it wasn’t supposed to be this way.

In 2022, 200 FBS-level cornerbacks played at least 318 coverage snaps. According to Pro Football Focus, King ranked fifth in forced-incompletion percentage (29), 16th in opponent passer rating (48.9) and 28th in completion percentage (45.8).

In 2023, King ranked 186th in forced-incompletion percentage (3), 99th in opponent passer rating (82.4) and 144th in completion percentage (61.0). He didn’t allow any touchdowns, but he went from 21 passes defensed to two and zero penalties to four.

Couple the downturn in play with a sluggish Scouting Combine – he ran a 4.61 in the 40 in Indianapolis and was only a little faster at pro day – and King’s draft stock sank like a ton of rocks encased in concrete and attached to a rocket.

“It’s extremely motivating. Not going where you thought you would go, seeing all the names being picked ahead of you, just enduring all that, I felt like it put a chip on my shoulder. A permanent chip on my shoulder that I’ve got to keep there,” he said.

“I felt like the Packers are going to get one of the most competitive guys in the country, a tough corner, physical corner who’s going to give 100 percent effort around the field at all times and make as many plays as I possibly can by doing it at 100 percent.”

For the Packers, it was practically a risk-free bet on a player who has played high-level football.

“I think our league has a long history of guys who felt they were overlooked and use that as motivation to drive themselves,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “Hopefully, that’ll be the case. Certainly, he was a guy that we expected to go higher and, as we went through it, we felt very fortunate to be able to pick him where we did.”

King has heard the doubters and intends to prove them wrong. Thirty-five cornerbacks were selected ahead of him, as was one punter and three kickers.

“I feel like this experience that I got these past three days was nothing but a humbling experience for me,” he said. “I’m going to use it to add fuel to the fire because there have been a lot of doubters in my ear and a lot of doubters on me for the past couple months, and it’s always going to be those. I’m not too worried about those people.

“I know what I’m capable of and I’m ready to show the world I can do so. That’s really it.”

Kalen King / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

Packers at the 2024 NFL Draft

Our Day 3 draft grades | Five takeaways | National draft grades

Day 3: Evan Williams | Jacob Monk and Travis Glover

Day 2: Javon Bullard | Edgerrin Cooper | Marshawn Lloyd | Ty’Ron Hopper

Day 1: Jordan Morgan | Short arms