Despite limited action this summer, Green Bay Packers corner Kevin King is still ahead of rookie Eric Stokes on the depth chart. According to Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com, King came before Stokes in drills and the team period during Monday’s practice.
King missed the first two weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury and has also been held from both preseason games. In King’s absence, Stokes has been running with the ones, which has turned out to be a valuable experience as he’s gone up against Davante Adams on a regular basis.
Last week, Adams was not shy about complimenting Stokes’ early progress.
The 29th overall pick started in his second preseason game on Saturday and turned in a solid outing against the New York Jets. After allowing a completion to wide receiver Corey Davis, Stokes bounced back with a nice pass deflection against Davis on third down. Stokes has played sparingly through the first two weeks of the preseason as the team expects him to play a significant role during the regular season.
However, despite the headway Stokes has made in a short time, the team insists on King being the starter opposite of Jaire Alexander – at least for now.
At the start of training camp, defensive backs coach Jerry Gray said he did not believe King should lose his starting spot because of an injury. The former second-round pick, who has been oft-injured during his four-year career, is always immediately inserted into the starting lineup when healthy.
Head coach Matt LaFleur stated recently that King is “as good as anybody” when challenging guys at the line of scrimmage. King’s 6-3 frame certainly helps him get aggressive against opposing receivers, however, that was rarely utilized under Mike Pettine.
Perhaps new defensive coordinator Joe Barry will call for more press coverage in the future. That would cater to King’s skillset and also mitigate some of the issues that arose last season.
Many were surprised when Green Bay brought King back on a one-year contract after a rocky 2020 season that ended with a reprehensible performance in the NFC Championship.
Stokes could eventually find himself on the starting defense, but it will have to take either poor play or injury for him to unseat King.
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