Seahawks potential free agent target Kevin King awful on Sunday

The Seahawks are going to have to find some inexpensive yet productive free agents this offseason. But it is clear Kevin King shouldn’t be among them. On Friday, I wrote an article pointing out four potential free agents on each of the teams involved in the NFC and AFC Championship games. For the Packers, I had cornerback Kevin King. That now appears to have been a stupid suggestion (not my first time being stupid and not my last!).

Kevin King played one of the worst games any cornerback has ever played in such an important game in the NFL. King terribly misplayed two first half passes against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and both passes went for touchdowns. The second of the two was just before halftime when every NFL defensive back is taught to not let a receiver get past them deep.

King not only got beat at the end of the half when the Packers might have been able to escape with a 14-10 or 17-10 deficit (which ended up being 21-10, of course) but got beat badly. In fact, I got flashbacks to when Tedric Thompson played safety for the Seahawks a couple of seasons ago and would let passes go over his head.

Seahawks might need cornerback help

Seattle might need cornerback help if they cannot re-sign Shaquill Griffin but after Sunday’s game, Kevin King should not be that help.

https://twitter.com/NFLonFOX/status/1353455177244663808

Against King, Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady had a quarterback rating of 140.5. But not only did King get beat at least twice (the most obvious times anyway) but he failed to stop running back Leonard Fournette from running over him for a touchdown in the first half (Pete Carroll likes defensive backs can tackle well). And maybe his worst offense was grabbing receiver Tyler Johnson’s jersey on third down late in the fourth where a stop would have given the Packers the ball back. The Buccaneers simply ran out the clock after the penalty.

Was it a penalty as much as the Packers say it wasn’t? Yes. It was a clear grab.

The tough part is I like Kevin King and he is a University of Washington product. Having him back in Seattle for the Seahawks and doing well would have been great. But King had a tough season and has struggled with injuries in his career and after he played in a big game on Sunday, Seattle shouldn’t take a chance on King in free agency.