Every year during the NFL draft cycle, players rise and fall based on how well they perform at the big events scattered throughout the lead-up to late April. Some take advantage of this time to give themselves a boost, while others fail to stand out and fall by the wayside. Penn State corner [autotag]Kalen King[/autotag] is in danger of doing the latter after a miserable performance at the Senior Bowl.
Between his performance in Mobile and a disappointing junior season, much of the hype around King has melted away after his stellar 2022 campaign. He can really only go up from here, however, especially with a strong combine performance. If King tests as well as he is expected to, teams will be more willing to overlook his recent struggles if he proves to be the athlete he showed on tape.
A player that I think he could be similar to at the next level strangely enough wasn’t even drafted: New England Patriots corner Jonathan Jones. Jones signed with the Patriots after going undrafted in 2016 despite an impressive combine, running a 4.33 40-yard dash and 19 bench reps at just 186lbs. His size was definitely the biggest knock on him at just 5’10”, but he has been a quality starter for New England for a decade.
Even though King is a bit bigger than Jones, they both are speedy, athletic corners who lack the physicality at times to handle bigger receivers. Despite their size, however, they are both relatively good against the run. They are also primarily outside corners even while being undersized. King will have to become less passive if he wants to get back to his 2022 form, and he should look at a player like Jones who is hyper-competitive even with his height disadvantage.
Overall, King would be worth an early day-two pick if teams thought they were getting a player the caliber of Jones, so he has work to do to climb his way back up draft boards. He will have his chance in Indianapolis to show teams he can be that type of player.