Desmond King

BIOGRAPHY

Desmond King II was born on December 14, 1994, in Detroit, Michigan. He is a defensive back in the NFL. 

King attended East English Village Prep and played college football at the University of Iowa. King attended East English Village Preparatory Academy in Detroit, Michigan. He played defensive back and running back for the Bulldogs. During his career, he set a Michigan high school record with 29 interceptions. He also set a school record for career rushing yards and had 2,360 as a senior. King was rated by Rivals.com a three-star recruit and committed to the University of Iowa to play college football. King attended Iowa under head coach Kirk Ferentz. As a true freshman at the University of Iowa in 2013, King appeared in all 13 games and made 12 starts. He was the first true freshman to start at defensive back for Iowa since 2002. He started all 13 games his sophomore year in 2014 and had 64 tackles and three interceptions. King returned as a starter his junior year in 2015. He also became Iowa's punt and kick returner.

After a terrific junior season in which he had 43 tackles and a Big-Ten high eight interceptions, King was named a consensus first-team All-American and won the 2015 Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the best defensive back in all of college football. Despite being projected as an early-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, King announced that he would return to Iowa for his senior season. On November 29, 2016, King was named First Team All-Big Ten for the second season in a row. He was also named a 2016 AP Second-Team All-American. He earned All-Pro honors in 2018 as both a defensive back and a punt returner.

The Los Angeles Chargers selected King in the fifth round with the 151st overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the 21st cornerback and the last of four Iowa players drafted in 2017.

He made his professional regular season debut in the Los Angeles Chargers' season-opener at the Denver Broncos and made one pass deflection during their 24–21 loss. Starting cornerback Jason Verrett suffered a torn ACL during the game and was placed on injured reserve for the rest of the season. King was promoted to the third cornerback on the depth chart behind Casey Hayward and Trevor Williams in his absence. The following week, King earned his first career start as the starting nickelback and collected six combined tackles in a 19–17 loss to the Miami Dolphins. In Week 8, King recorded four solo tackles and made his first career sack on Tom Brady during a 21–13 loss at the New England Patriots. On November 23, 2017, King recorded five solo tackles, a pass break up, and returned his first career interception off Dak Prescott for a 90-yard touchdown during a 28–6 victory at the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving. On December 10, 2017, King made his fourth career start and made a season-high ten combined tackles, a pass deflection, and sacked Washington Redskins' quarterback Kirk Cousins during the Chargers' 30–13 victory. King finished his rookie season in 2017 with 76 combined tackles (66 solo), five pass deflections, and an interception in 12 games and four starts. He also returned 17 kickoffs for 353 yards. He received an overall grade of 86.5 from Pro Football Focus in 2017, which ranked as the 14th highest grade among all qualifying cornerbacks. His grade was also the third highest among all rookie cornerbacks in 2017.

The Los Angeles Chargers finished tied atop the AFC West with a 12–4 record in 2018 and earned a Wild Card berth. On January 6, 2019, King started his first career playoff game and recorded four combined tackles and one sack during the Chargers' 23–17 victory at the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Wild Card Round.

On March 21, 2022, King signed a two-year contract extension with the Texans. In the 2022 season, he appeared in all 17 games, of which he started 13. He finished with 89 total tackles, two interceptions, and eight passes defended.