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Defensive back, Iowa, 2013–16
Desmond King
- Number
- No. 14
- Height
- 5′11″
- Hometown
- Detroit, MI
- Born
- Dec 14, 1994, in Detroit, Michigan
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Desmond King played defensive back at Iowa (2013–16). He won the 2015 Jim Thorpe Award. He was a consensus All‑American in 2015. The Los Angeles Chargers took King in round 5, No. 151 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
At a glance
Career highs
12tackles, career highvs. Wisconsin, 20162interceptions, career hightwice; last at Wisconsin, 2015Honors
- 2015Jim Thorpe Award
- 2015Jack Tatum Trophy
- 2015Consensus All‑American
- 2015Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year
- 2015, 2016First-team All-Big Ten
All-America: consensus 2015; Fox Sports 2016; Sports Illustrated 2016; USA Today 2016
Players of the year, conference and regional honors: Wikipedia’s lists (CC BY-SA), each linked from its honor.
Defense before 2016
| Season | G | Solo | Ast | Tkl | TFL | PBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 13 | 44 | 25 | 69 | 3 | 8 |
Our box scores carry tackles, tackles for loss and sacks from 2016 only, so these come from other sources: NCAA statistics, via octonion/football, the season’s official lines (G: games played). A dash: the source has no number for it.
On the roster
As each season’s roster listed the player (CollegeFootballData). Classes before the latest listing are counted back from it; “Yr 1” is the year on file where that count can’t place a season he played (a redshirt, transfer or 2020 year); height and weight as last listed.
Game by game
2016 Iowa 13 games, 58 tackles, 3 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Sacks | Int | PD | KR | Yds | PR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 3 | vs. Miami (OH) | W 45–21 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 70 | 1 |
| Sep 10 | vs. Iowa State | W 42–3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 3 |
| Sep 17 | vs. North Dakota State | L 21–23 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 61 | – |
| Sep 24 | at Rutgers | W 14–7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 45 | 2 |
| Oct 1 | vs. Northwestern | L 31–38 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 85 | 4 |
| Oct 8 | at Minnesota | W 14–7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 48 | 7 |
| Oct 15 | at Purdue | W 49–35 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 2 |
| Oct 22 | vs. Wisconsin | L 9–17 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 77 | 1 |
| Nov 5 | at Penn State | L 14–41 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 78 | – |
| Nov 12 | vs. Michigan | W 14–13 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 74 | 3 |
| Nov 19 | at Illinois | W 28–0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Nov 25 | vs. Nebraska | W 40–10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 80 | 2 |
| Jan 2 ✦ | vs. Florida | L 3–30 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 70 | 1 |
2015 Iowa 14 games, 46 returns, 949 yards
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Sacks | Int | PD | KR | Yds | PR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 5 | vs. Illinois State | W 31–14 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 19 | 2 |
| Sep 12 | atIowa State | W 31–17 | – | – | 1 | – | 2 | 29 | 2 |
| Sep 19 | vs. Pittsburgh | W 27–24 | – | – | 2 | – | 2 | 48 | 1 |
| Sep 26 | vs. North Texas | W 62–16 | – | – | – | – | 4 | 109 | 2 |
| Oct 3 | atWisconsin | W 10–6 | – | – | 2 | – | 3 | 65 | – |
| Oct 10 | vs.Illinois | W 29–20 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 |
| Oct 17 | atNorthwestern | W 40–10 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| Oct 31 | vs. Maryland | W 31–15 | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | 23 | 2 |
| Nov 7 | at Indiana | W 35–27 | – | – | 1 | – | 3 | 84 | – |
| Nov 14 | vs.Minnesota | W 40–35 | – | – | – | – | 2 | 74 | 1 |
| Nov 21 | vs.Purdue | W 40–20 | – | – | – | – | 2 | 61 | – |
| Nov 27 | atNebraska | W 28–20 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| Dec 5 | vs. Michigan State | L 13–16 | – | – | – | – | 2 | 52 | 1 |
| Jan 1 ✦ | vs. Stanford | L 16–45 | – | – | – | – | 7 | 144 | 1 |
2014 Iowa 5 games, 3 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Sacks | Int | PD | KR | Yds | PR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 6 | vs. Ball State | W 17–13 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| Oct 11 | vs.Indiana | W 45–29 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| Oct 18 | atMaryland | L 31–38 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| Nov 28 | vs.Nebraska | L 34–37 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| Jan 2 ✦ | vs. Tennessee | L 28–45 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
Box scores from CollegeFootballData, 2004 on. ✦ postseason; ★ a career high on file.
Before the draft
Played in the 2017 Senior Bowl (North team, lost 15–16).
| Drill | Combine 2017 | Combine or pro day 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 5′9⅞″ | |
| Weight | 201 lb | |
| Arm length | 31⅛″ | |
| Hand size | 9⅝″ | |
| 40-yard dash | 4.60 s | |
| 10-yard split | 1.57 sW | |
| Vertical jump | 34″ | |
| Broad jump | 9′9″ | |
| Bench press | 14 reps | |
| 3-cone drill | 6.67 s | |
| 20-yard shuttle | 4.18 s |
Combine or pro day: the source doesn’t say which. Unmarked: Combine and pro day results compiled by array-carpenter (nfl-draft-data); W: Pre-draft measurables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Rosters and honors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
In the NFL
8 seasons, 106 games with a stat; latest team: Baltimore Ravens.
First-team All-Pro (AP): 2018
All-Pro teams: AP first team 2018; AP second team 2018.
| Season | Team | G | Tkl | Sacks | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Los Angeles Chargers | 16 | 56 | 4 | 1 |
| 2018 | Los Angeles Chargers | 16 | 56 | 0 | 3 |
| 2019 | Los Angeles Chargers | 15 | 49 | 2.5 | 0 |
| 2020 | Tennessee Titans | 14 | 50 | 2 | 0 |
| 2021 | Houston Texans | 16 | 88 | 0 | 3 |
| 2022 | Houston Texans | 17 | 79 | 0 | 2 |
| 2023 | Houston Texans | 9 | 42 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | Baltimore Ravens | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| NFL career | 106 | 423 | 9.5 | 9 | |
Regular seasons, from nflverse (CC BY 4.0), matched to him by his draft pick and college (Player ids: DynastyProcess (GPL-3.0)). G counts games in which the player recorded a stat. Pro Bowls and All-Pro teams by NFL season: rosters and honors, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
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