Seahawks Mock Draft Player Profile: Kevin King
By Ben Renner
Seahawks buzz in recent days has mostly centered around Richard Sherman, but former Huskies cornerback Kevin King has also garnered attention from mock draft analysts in the Seattle sports bloggerverse. Let’s take a look at his strengths, weaknesses, and what he could offer to the team.
The Seahawks hold the 26th overall pick in a draft loaded with defensive talent. Defensive backs especially, it seems, are being fawned over by NFL scouts and front offices. The lack of offensive line talent in the first round at least could have caused the Seahawks to hand former Jaguars washout Luke Joeckel $7 million for one year.
The bizarre trade speculation around Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has ratcheted up in recent days over the Internet, leading many fans and sportswriters to wonder about a Sherman-less future in Seattle. This shadow lurking over everyone’s mind has likely contributed to Mock Drafts twisting and turning to get Kevin King to stay in Seattle and change his jersey from Husky purple to Seahawk green.
In a recent Mock Draft I saw over on 12th Man Rising, Dan Viens projected four players whose college careers were for teams in Washington state going to the Seahawks. Viens had the Seahawks trading their 26th overall pick to Cleveland for the 33rd pick and the 65th pick and selecting Kevin King with the first pick of the second round.
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Most of us know King from watching the Washington Huskies this season. He’s a tall, long, versatile defensive back who appears to fit well into Pete Carroll’s School for Gifted and Long Cornerbacks.
King has the size to play cornerback and safety, versatility that could prove useful if the Seahawks employ the 4-2-5 defensive scheme more often this season. King earned two consecutive All-Pac-12 Honorable Mentions at cornerback and led the Huskies with 13 pass breakups last season. He had two interceptions for the Huskies, one of them an incredible one-handed grab in the endzone against Arizona State. He used his long arms well to get in front of passes and make plays.
King’s scouting report shows a player with the physical tools to fight receivers for the ball and play everywhere in the defensive backfield. It also shows a speed problem and an unwillingness to be an aggressive tackler in the mold of Sherman. He may be a step slow coming out of press coverage. What makes Sherman special is his smarts, speed, and aggressiveness. King appears to know how to use his length to his advantage in taking the ball away from receivers in the air, but he didn’t appear to be a truly physical corner in tackle support and was called an “ankle biter” in his scouting report for his penchant for running and chasing faster wide receivers.
The Seahawks can probably work with King’s raw tools and give him the opportunity to make up for his lack of speed in their defense. The question is whether John Schneider and Pete Carroll want to trade around to grab him early in the second round or just choose him with their 26th pick–or not cater their draft strategy to nab King at all. The Seahawks have shown they’re willing to make deals to get “their guys” (see Lockett, Tyler), but it remains to be seen if they view King as a surefire contributor to the Legion of Boom.
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Kevin King is most likely a good fit in Seattle, perhaps the best fit for him in the league. Should the Seahawks try to tilt the draft in their favor to take him?