Answering questions at Pro Day, Kalen King anxious for NFL future
Even before his Penn State Pro Day performance on Friday, cornerback Kalen King had made up his mind on the process. Following a second-team All-Big Ten junior season, with 38 games as a Nittany Lion under his belt, the proof of his potential in the NFL could not be found in his 40-yard dash time.
Logging a 4.61 at the NFL Combine late last month in Indianapolis, King responded at Penn State’s Holuba Hall with a 4.52-second effort. As he’d worked to rectify, readily acknowledging his concentration on improving the time in recent weeks, he also notched a 4.14 in the shuttle to officially end the “testing” portion of the pre-draft process.
“I feel like I did very well. I answered a lot of questions, especially today,” said King. “The way I look at this all this combine stuff and all this testing, I feel like it’s important. But, not really. This is just the testing part of things. My game is what really speaks for me, not my 40. So I’m just excited to get started, get back to football, and I’m done dealing with all this.”
Using his vertical leap (37 inches) and broad jump scores (10 feet, 2 inches) from the NFL Combine, King’s participation on Friday was limited but effective, he added. And, in the process, he walked away from the experience feeling as though he’d helped himself.
“I ran a faster time,” said King. “They know my GPS times. I was at the Senior Bowl and I was the top five fastest out there. I’m really a game-speed guy. I run really well on the field, not really combine testing.”
Kalen King has “something to prove”
For his three-year career at Penn State, King built that reputation with his physical play at the corner position. He finished with 80 total tackles over three seasons, twice forcing fumbles, making three career interceptions (all during his 2022 campaign) while notching 22 passes defended.
But, in an evolution that played out as he first emerged behind Tariq Castro-Fields and Joey Porter Jr. as a freshman, paired opposite second-round pick Porter as a sophomore, then starred as the top corner as a junior in 2023, King said his personal and team circumstances changed with it.
“I feel like this last season definitely was different, but for a variety of reasons. One being I was coming off of an All-American season. I feel like opposing teams took it that way and I was not targeted for like half of the season. So that was a learning curve for me,” he said. “This season taught me a lot. I feel like every season I’ve been here, I learned something new.”
Next steps
With those experiences under his belt, King expressed his confidence that pursuing his NFL career was the best decision.
A process that he’d been working toward since his childhood, putting himself in a position to take the next steps and make the decision one that “wasn’t tough at all.” And, now feeling as though the questions over his athleticism have been answered, the NFL franchises contemplating his future can focus on the elements he’d demonstrated throughout his career.
“My game shows my toughness, my heart, my competitiveness, and the way I just approached the game. I feel like I’m one of the most competitive guys out there,” he said. “Just qualities like that don’t really show up on times. You got to just really see it.”
