Brad Holmes and the Lions' front office will have a variety of needs to address this offseason, and one of them will be at cornerback.
Detroit has had to play inexperienced corners, like Jerry Jacobs and AJ Parker, throughout the course of the 2021 season, and along the way, has given up a league-worst 7.5 yards per pass attempt.
The aforementioned stat screams to me that Holmes & Co. are in need of a huge upgrade at the CB position this upcoming offseason.
Enter Green Bay Packers' Kevin King, a second-round pick of the Lions' NFC North divisional rivals in 2017.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound corner is just 26 years old, and will play all of next season as a 27-year-old.
He's set to be a free agent at season's end, and is the one cornerback, if I were Holmes, that I'd bend over backwards to try to sign prior to the start of the 2022 campaign.
Sure, King has constantly battled the injury bug since entering the league in '17 (has failed to play in a full season), and in fact, has been limited to just six games this year due to shoulder and hip ailments.
However, when he does suit up, he's proven to be a high-end corner.
Just two seasons ago, the Oakland, Calif., native posted 66 total tackles, 15 passes defensed and five interceptions. He also recorded a sack and forced fumble during the 2019 campaign.
Fast-forward to this year, and you'll see that he's done a solid job in his abbreviated time on the field. King has amassed 20 total tackles, three passes defensed and an interception.
Additionally, he owns the fourth-highest Pro Football Focus grade in press coverage this season: 79.7.
Plucking one of your rival's best players is always nice, and there's no doubt that he'd be a big boost to Detroit's secondary in 2022.
He'd give Lions defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant a No. 1-caliber CB to work with, and there's the possibility that King would also be able to help fellow defensive backs Amani Oruwariye and Jeff Okudah take the next steps in their respective careers.
If I'm Holmes and I'm only targeting one cornerback in next year's free-agent class, it would be King.
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