# Mitch King

Mitch King (born May 5, 1986) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes and was signed by the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2009.

## Early life

King attended Burlington Community High School in Burlington, Iowa. He was a Class 4A first-team All-State selection from as a senior and a member of SuperPrep all-Region team . He was also First-team All-Conference as both a linebacker and running back as a senior and Second-team All-Conference linebacker as a junior. For his career he career with 1,400 rushing yards including, 850 yards as a senior. He was a two-year letterman in football, swimming and he was also a letterman in baseball and track.

## College career

King was selected to play in 2009 Senior Bowl after becoming the 60th player in Iowa football to record over 200 career tackles. He ranks 41st in career tackles with 228 career stops. In 2008, he was Big Ten Conference Defensive Lineman of the Year, First-team All-American by ESPN.com and Second-team All-American by Walter Camp Football Foundation, Associated Press and SI.Com as well as Third-team All-American by Rivals.com. He was a consensus First-team All-Big Ten In his year of honors he Started all 13 games at defensive tackle, recording 27 solo tackles and 27 assists, including 15.5 tackles for loss and four QB sacks. In 2007, he was named First-team All-Big Ten and named First-team All-Big Ten by Rivals.com. His stats were as follows: He made 58 (25 solo) tackles (14.5 for losses) and 4.5 sacks and 7 passed deflected and forced a fumble. 2006 King made 56 (21 solo) and as four of them went for losses. He also made 7 sacks and deflected 4 passes and forced three fumbles. 2005 he was First-team Freshman All-America 2005 after he totaled 60 tackles (36 solo) 60 11 tackles for a loss and two sacks, 3 passes deflected, 3 forced fumbles. In 2004, he redshirted.

## Professional career
### 2009 NFL Draft

Pre-draft measurables :
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press |
| 6 ft 1+1⁄2 in (1.87 m) | 280 lb (127 kg) | 31+1⁄2 in (0.80 m) | 10 in (0.25 m) | 4.92 s | 1.73 s | 2.86 s | 4.58 s | 7.60 s | 33+1⁄2 in (0.85 m) | 9 ft 1 in (2.77 m) | 23 reps |
| Arm and hand spans from Pro Day, all other values from NFL Combine. ||||||||||||
King was predicted to go somewhere in the 5th to 7th round in the 2009 NFL draft, but went undrafted.

### Tennessee Titans

King was signed by the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He chose to go to Tennessee to learn under Kyle Vanden Bosch and defensive line coach Jim Washburn even though he had many offers from other teams. He was waived on September 4, 2009. He was re-signed to the practice squad the next day.

### Indianapolis Colts

King signed a future contract with the Indianapolis Colts on January 23, 2010, after his contract with the Titans expired. King was given his release from the Colts on October 5, 2010.

### St. Louis Rams

Shortly after King was released from the Colts he was signed to the Rams practice squad. The Rams released Mitch King on December 14.

### New Orleans Saints

After being released by the Rams, King was signed to the Saints practice squad. He was re-signed on January 18, 2012. King was waived on June 2, 2012.

### Houston Texans

The Houston Texans signed King on July 30, 2012, and was released in final cuts in August.