STRENGTHS - Tremendously well built, King has the natural strength to dominate blockers at the POA when he plays with leverage and uses hands aggressively. When left unblocked on backside, he makes sure to maintain his backside contain responsibility before trying to make the play in pursuit, but once he is sure the play is going away he quickly accelerates down the LOS and has the speed to chase down the play in pursuit. When offenses try to block him on the backside with a "reach block," he is quick to get inside of block, keeps blocker on back/shoulder and comes down the LOS fast to make tackle. When lined up at DT, King flashes quickness off the ball and good hand use to jolt and defeat pass block and has a good burst to the QB. Experienced lining up in 3-Pt DE, 2-Pt OLB and 43 DT alignments, King's versatility definitely increases his value. That experience lining up as an OLB shows up in how smooth and comfortable he looks dropping to the flat in pass coverage. While he does not show the explosive closing burst to make a play on ball to break up pass, he does get there in time to wrap-up and make tackle after the catch.
WEAKNESSES -Despite being a very versatile player at Oklahoma, he was definitely more of a "Jack of all Trades and Master of None" type guy as he did not make the impact plays that a player with his size, strength and athleticism should. While he can be effective as a pass rusher from a DE and OLB when he rushes aggressively and uses hands well, he does not do that consistently and lacks the explosive burst off the ball and speed to consistently threaten the corner as a speed rusher. Somewhat of a "tweener" King has the size to be a dominant power 43 DE, but he lacks the edge rush skills to consistently pressure the QB from a DE or OLB alignment. However, he does show the quickness and burst to be effective rushing the passer from a DT alignment, but lacks the ideal bulk and can be tied up and eliminated from the play on inside running plays. He is a better athlete than football player right now.
SUMMARY - Not as productive as he has the talent to be, King was viewed as somewhat of an "under-achiever" off his Oklahoma game film. However, after a great week of practice at the Texas Versus the Nation Game his value is up. Throughout the week of practice in Dallas, King made it look easy defeating blocks to pressure the QB and make tackles against the run both from a DT and DE alignment. Although he displays good instincts reading miss-direction plays/fakes consistently, he lacks the snap anticipation from a DE or OLB alignment to threaten the corner as a speed/edge rusher. Overall, King is likely to be a late round pick based on his athleticism and potential. However, he will need to greatly improve his ability to produce every snap if he is ever going to become more than a backup in the NFL.