Last year Kalen King fell short of making the 53 man roster.
Although he was able to make it on the practice squad King used that as a learning experience.
King has a good chance of making the team this year with the release of former Packer Jaire Alexander.
But it will be a tough hill for him to climb as there are multiple candidates ahead of King.
So far though in training camp King has impressed the coaching staff with his performance.
King’s performance
Head coach Matt LeFleur said earlier in the week that King has impressed him so far.
“I think he’s had a pretty impressive three days,”
LeFleur continued to say “I think he’s shown a lot of—I mean, he’s not the biggest guy, he’ll throw his body around in there and shows a lot of toughness.
While we are only 3 days into training camp and there are no pads on, this is good news for King.
LeFleur also talked about how age plays a big role in Kings development.
“Everybody is going to grow at a different rate.”
LeFleur continued by saying ” He’s a pretty young player—I think he was 21 when we drafted him last year, so he’s still got a lot of maturity in front of him. “
Coach LeFleur advice to King?
“Just continue to stack those days and take advantage of those opportunities” LeFleur said.
“He’s off to a really strong start and hopefully that can continue when we get into pads and then we get into those preseason games.”
Tough hill to climb
Like I mention earlier in the article, it will be tough for King to make the roster as a cornerback.
The Packers not only made moves during the offseason to prepare for Alexanders release but they acquired depth as well.
Keisean Nixon appears to be the top corner heading into 2025.
Meanwhile newcomer Nate Hobbs and 3rd year CB Carrington Valentine seem to be locks to be the second and third corner.
The best chance King has to make the team would be possibly as the “dime” cornerback.
King would have to beat out multiple guys to win that position.
Currently the Packers have Javon Bullard, who is a safety, playing that spot.
There is also plenty of competition at the corner spot with guys like Bo Melton, Micah Robinson, Kamal Hadden, Gregory Junior, Jonathan Baldwin, Isaiah Dunn, Tyron Herring competing to get a roster spot.
Conclusion
Kalen King is still young and the Packers staff still see the potential that he has.
Remember King at one time a couple years back was one of the top cornerbacks in college football.
But a bad 2 seasons and a bad combine sent King down to the 7th round.
If Kalen King can return to that form back in 2022 when he had 21 passes defended, the Packers might have struck gold in the 7th round once again.
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