Have you ever experienced a feeling of enlightenment or complete joy while being on vacation or after accomplishing a big life goal?
Well, that’s how NFL analyst Brian Baldinger thinks DB Desmond King feels after joining the Pittsburgh Steelers.
King was made available after he was cut by the Houston Texans as the team got down to its 53-man roster. King was a surprise cut to many as the veteran defensive back has been a productive player for most of his NFL career. Last season in Houston, he started 13 games, picking off a pair of passes. He was also active around the ball, finishing the year with 89 combined tackles. King has appeared in 95 career games with 53 starts over the course of his NFL career with the Chargers, Titans, and Texans, having 33 pass deflections, nine interceptions, 27 tackles for loss, and 8.5 sacks on his resume.
The Steelers quickly swooped in and signed King once he became a free agent, resembling a scenario several years ago when they signed veteran CB Joe Haden after he was released by the Cleveland Browns in a cap-saving move prior to the start of the regular season. Appearing on the Cook & Joe Show Thursday, Baldinger was asked about the King addition for Pittsburgh and the similarities between that and the Haden addition the Steelers made back in 2017.
“I’ve known Des a long time,” Baldinger said on the Cook & Joe Show on 93.7 The Fan. “He’s an NFL slot corner. That’s exactly what the Steelers are going to use him as. It was a position of weakness, I think. But Des King is a very, very smart player. I think at one point, in one of his years he led the league in interceptions with eight. He’s got those kinds of skills, but he’s very smart.
And that might not be a bad comparison to Joe Haden and the second act that he had in Pittsburgh, because Des can still play. Now, who knows what going on in Houston. I know this. Patrick Peterson and a lot of guys that come to the Steelers, they feel like they’ve died and went to heaven. I can’t imagine Des, you know, going to a contending team now the way he is with this defense that looks loaded that he isn’t think that this is one of the best days of his NFL career.”
King has never recorded eight interceptions in one season in the NFL (his top seasons were three picks in 2018 and 2021) but he did have a prolific college career at Iowa where he snagged eight interceptions in 2015. Regardless, King has been a quality player for most of his NFL career. He may not be the pedigree that Haden was as a first-round draft pick, but the two are similar as undersized, feisty cover men with a nose for the football and a willingness to get down and dirty against the run.
Haden has spoken about leaving Cleveland for Pittsburgh, talking about going from a culture where he experienced plenty of losing seasons with the Browns to one where the Steelers expect to win. The same could be said for King, who enjoyed a 12-4 campaign with the Chargers back in 2018 but largely has been a part of mediocre or poor teams during his time in the league. You could tell that King was stoked to sign with Pittsburgh, stating in various tweets after the news broke that this was a dream come true for him and that he feels like Pittsburgh is where he should be.
King will round out a secondary in Pittsburgh that has experienced quite the makeover this offseason with the additions of CBs Patrick Peterson, Joey Porter Jr., Chandon Sullivan, as well as S Keanu Neal along with King. The Steelers have plenty of proven veterans on the back end along with the youth of Porter, giving them an enticing defensive back room. It’s a lot of new pieces that have to get up to speed and play together as a cohesive unit. But if King can provide a fraction of the impact Haden did after he signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent, his addition will be a big win for the team.
