For many players, their second season in the NFL is the one that often determines their future and football fate. Produce significantly, and a lengthy career could await. Fail to make progress, and the road to success could be a rocky one that ultimately never reaches its intended destination.
Fortunately for tight end Jeff King, his second year fell into the former category. After playing in 12 games as a rookie and logging just one reception, he started all 16 games last season and finished with 46 receptions, the most for a Carolina tight end since Wesley Walls snagged 63 passes in 1999. King's 406-yard season tally was also the highest for a Panthers tight end since Walls amassed 452 yards in 2001.
By those numbers, King's second year saw him make the move he needed most -- a move closer to placing his still-young career on solid ground, justifying the Panthers' patience and faith in his development as a rookie in 2006.
"It's meant a lot,"
King said. "They didn't spend a high-round draft pick on me, but they stuck with me. Hopefully they're happy with what they got out of the fifth round."
It didn't take King long to learn that getting something out of the NFL meant putting everything he possessed into it. All the teaching and patience in the world wouldn't have done the Virginia Tech alumnus any good had he not immersed himself in extra work on his own.
"It's more on you than the Panthers,"
King said. "You have to get yourself up to speed with the terminology and things like that. They're not going to wait on you. You have to catch up to them."
And a player also must keep working to prevent others from catching up with him.
Like King 12 months ago, fellow tight end Dante Rosario is set to begin his second Panthers season after joining the club as a fifth-round draft pick. Rosario even started a pair of games last December as the Panthers opened in two-tight end formations at Jacksonville and against the Dallas Cowboys.
Their tandem work late last year shows that there could be room for both to have prominent roles in Carolina’s offense.
"Jeff had a great year last year, but more and more around the League, you're starting to see twos -- two tight ends, two (running) backs, and multiple receivers,"
Rosario said. "Everyone wants to contribute, and I'm just looking for my spot."
For King, that may prove to be as an all-around tight end. That means taking extra time to work on blocking – both in honing his skills and adjusting to Carolina’s new blocking scheme, which is designed to give ballcarriers freedom to choose their holes.
At Virginia Tech, King said the Hokies’ blocking schemes involved "a little bit of everything,"
encompassing zone and man-on-man blocking techniques. But he’s excited about focusing upon the former rather than the latter.
"It definitely helps. I think any time you're asked to zone-block more than man-block, it's an easier concept for everyone,"
King said. "It's team-oriented more than man-on-man. Whatever they call on us to do, we're willing blockers, and we'll go out there and play our tails off."
And blocking ability will prove crucial for King as he looks to turn his solid second year into a lengthy career.
"I'm trying to get better every day, get stronger and block better, because in this offense, you're going to have to block,"
King said. "I think that's more of my role this year -- to be that guy, to be the point man and block a little bit more.
"
"But if you can do both -- to be able to known as a pass catcher and a blocker, too -- you're not one-dimensional."
