FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons re-signed cornerback Kevin King, the organization announced Friday.
King played in 15 games for the Falcons in 2024, starting one. He primarily worked on special teams, taking 42% of the snaps, but he also took 7% of the defensive snaps and his role there increased late in the season. He finished with 10 tackles, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery.
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Last season was the first time King had been active since 2021, when he was with the Green Bay Packers. King missed the 2022 season due to personal reasons, and then a torn Achilles prevented his come-back attempts in 2023. King himself explained all that happened in video he shared on YouTube in 2023.
King's return to live action on a football field came in the Falcons' first preseason loss to the Miami Dolphins on Aug. 9, 2024. In the game, King intercepted Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson in the first quarter and returned the pick 29 yards. It was exhibition work, but King has a successful history in the secondary. That's why the Falcons brought him in.
"When I got on that field, it's like 'OK, now this feels like home,'" King said after the game. "It wasn't: 'Can I get back?' It was: 'No, I'm back.'"
Between 2017-21, King played in 51 of a possible 81 regular-season games for the Packers with 42 starts. Over the course of five seasons, he totaled 197 tackles with a slew of additional stats — seven interceptions (highlighted by a career-high five in 2019) and 30 pass breakups; two forced fumbles and two recoveries; and a sack.
The Packers originally selected King with a second-round pick (No. 33 overall) in the 2017 NFL Draft.
King's opportunity in Atlanta was likely aided by Falcons assistant head coach/defense Jerry Gray and secondary coach Justin Hood. King shared time with each of them in Green Bay — with Gray from 2020-21 and with Hood in 2021. Gray joined the Falcons in 2023. Hood did so in 2024.
"I trust him," Gray said last year. "I trust him wholeheartedly. … And trust me, I don't have any problem with him going out on the football field. That's the least of my worries."
The Falcons presumably already have their starting cornerbacks in A.J. Terrell and Mike Hughes, who are both back from last season. Otherwise, King is re-joining a position room that also retained Dee Alford, Natrone Brooks and Clark Phillips III, while adding Mike Ford and Keith Taylor in free agency.
