MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – It’s been a long road back for Falcons cornerback Kevin King.
After being out of the NFL for the past two seasons, King started in the exhibition season opener against the Dolphins on Friday and had an interception, three tackles, two pass breakups and a forced fumble.
He’ll be back on the field when the Falcons return to practice on Monday in Flowery Branch. The Falcons (0-1) are set to play the Ravens (0-1) at 12 noon on Saturday in Baltimore.
“Yeah, it was a special day,” King said. “I’m not really one to get too emotional and stuff like that, but when I ran out of the tunnel and I was just kind of looking up, right before the national anthem, I was getting a little emotional.”
Who could blame King for getting a little misty-eyed?
King elected to sit out the 2022 season to get healthy, but he suffered an Achilles injury that forced him to miss the 2023 season.
“It was something that I kind of almost couldn’t even shake a little bit,” King said of his emotions. “I’m like, ‘man, get right.’ But it was a special moment. Just being out there was a moment that me and my family had talked about for a long time.”
King thought his career was over, but had faith they he’d get a chance to return to the league.
“It was something that, me personally, I knew was going to happen, but you can’t take those things for granted,” King said. “(There are) a lot of people around the outside of this league trying to get these opportunities to come back in and maybe things just don’t go their way.”
King’s interception helped to set up the Falcons’ only touchdown of the game. He nearly had another interception in the second quarter.
“It felt good just to be out there and talking to God while I was out there,” King said. “He told me to just put all the burdens on him. Just go out there, you (don’t have) to be perfect. You just (have) to be you. So, that was just going out there and doing what I know I can do.”
King, who was drafted in the second-round (33rd overall) of the 2017 draft after playing at Washington. He spent five seasons with the Packers.
King, 29, has played in 51 NFL games and made 42 starts. He has 197 tackles and seven interceptions.
King had a rough ending to his injury-plagued stay in Green Bay. He missed 29 of a possible 80 games because of an assortment of injuries: hamstring, groin, shoulder, quadricep, Achilles, back, concussion and hip.
He gave up two touchdown passes and was called for a game-sealing pass interference penalty in the NFC championship game against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers at the end of the 2020 season. He was re-signed by the Packers to a one-year contract in 2021.
In 2020, teams completed 36 of 57 passes when throwing at King (63.2%) for 488 yards and a touchdown for a 96.2 passer rating, according to pro football reference’s advance stats. He had an unacceptable 12 missed tackles (17.4%) while playing in 11 games and making 11 starts.
In 2021, teams completed 20 of 28 passes for 258 yards on King (71.4%) and had a passer rating of 108.9. He played in 10 games, made six starts.
The Falcons were pleased with King’s outing against the Dolphins.
“Pretty positive showing for him,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “Went out and made a couple nice plays on the ball, got a nice pick. Pretty excited to see him go play.”
The Falcons are looking for cornerback help opposite of A.J. Terrell. Mike Hughes has been working with the first-team defense and Dee Alford working as the nickel back.
King played 37 defensive snaps (54%) and five on specials teams (15%) against the Dolphins.
“Got a chance to go see Kevin King really show some things and do some things really well for us,” Morris said.
Cornerback Antonio Hamilton Sr. also played a strong game.
“Pretty fired up about those guys,” Morris said. “Those are guys who have played a lot of football and (have) a chance to get back out there and play for us.”
King is working with Falcons assistant head coach/defense Jerry Gray, who was with the Packers in 2020 and 2021 before joining the Falcons in 2022. Also, King played at Washington from 2013-2016 when Falcons’ defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake was the defensive backs coach (2014-15) and co-defensive coordinator (2016).
“This league is about relationships and life is about relationships,” King said. “They’re going to bring guys in that they trust, so that’s a testament to myself and how I was as a player when I played for them.
“They trust me to want to bring me back as a man and as a football player and that’s just a testament to God because everything I do is manifesting his glory through me.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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