Former Penn State linebacker Kobe King is a free agent again after the New York Jets waived him from injured reserve this week.
The Jets have announced they have waived the 23-year-old Detroit native off IR, ending his brief stay in green and white. King had been placed on injured reserve in early June after New York waived him with an injury designation. The move now lets him pass a physical and try to land elsewhere for the 2026 season.
For Nittany Lion fans, the transaction is a reminder of how quickly the NFL can turn even for a player who left Happy Valley as a captain and All-Big Ten starter.
King arrived at Penn State in 2021 with his twin brother Kalen, a cornerback who later went to the Packers and is now with the Carolina Panthers.
A Cass Tech product, Kobe redshirted, then worked his way from reserve to the middle of the defense. Over 46 games and 27 starts he piled up 200 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks.
The 2024 season was his peak. Named a team captain, he started all 16 games during Penn State’s College Football Playoff run, finishing with 97 tackles (eighth-most in the Big Ten), 8.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. Coaches and media voted him second-team All-Big Ten.
Linebackers coach Dan Connor later said King had “etched his name alongside the great linebackers who have represented LBU.”
He declared for the 2025 draft with a year of eligibility remaining. Minnesota took him in the sixth round, 201st overall. The Vikings used him almost exclusively on special teams—77 snaps and just three defensive snaps in five games—then waived him in late October.
The Jets claimed him the next day. King appeared in nine more games, again almost entirely on special teams (142 snaps, six tackles). Combined he played 14 games and recorded 10 tackles as a rookie.
An undisclosed injury in the offseason ended his Jets chapter. At 6-foot-1 and about 250 pounds, King was never a burner; his value was downhill run-fitting, communication and special-teams grit—the same traits that made him the “quarterback” of Penn State’s defense.
That pedigree still matters. Linebacker U has sent plenty of late-round and undrafted players into multi-year NFL careers as core special-teamers and emergency linebackers. King is only 23.
If he is healthy, another team could see a cheap, experienced depth piece who already knows how to play on Sundays.
For now the former Nittany Lion is looking for his third NFL stop. Penn State fans who watched him grow from a three-star twin into a captain will hope he finds one.
