Packers defensive lineman Kingsley Keke on concussion: 'I knew I wasn't right in my head'
GREEN BAY - At first, Kingsley Keke’s vision went blurry.
The second-year Green Bay Packers defensive lineman said he doesn’t remember the exact play, nor the exact hit, that caused the concussion that kept him sidelined throughout the 2020 postseason.
Looking back, Keke said he sustained the concussion in Week 13 on the road against the Detroit Lions. But he didn’t think anything at the time about the spurt of blurred vision that subsided shortly thereafter. Keke stayed in the game and played more than half of the defensive snaps, finishing with a quarterback hit and a pass breakup.
It wasn’t until Week 15 against the Tennessee Titans that Keke noticed he felt off.
“The first couple snaps, that's when I knew something was wrong,” Keke told PackersNews. “I knew I wasn't right in my head. I was just out there just trying to keep going for my team. I thought I was fine, but then again, I knew I wasn't fine. It's just the adrenaline running.
“But I kept playing.”
After the game, Keke went to the training staff for an evaluation and was placed in the concussion protocol. For the first time in his NFL career, Keke would watch the next week’s game against the Chicago Bears alone from his couch at home. Throughout the next three weeks, Keke rested, stayed off his phone and computer, took lots of Omega-3, meditated and practiced yoga.
He returned to practice on the Wednesday before the Packers’ NFC championship game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Keke practiced in a limited capacity on Wednesday and Thursday, did not participate on Friday and was inactive for the game.
“I was hurting, honestly,” Keke said of easing into practice. “I knew I was concussed and then it was like, man, I'm out here playing football. I wanna be playing this week, you know? I want to be able to compete. Have fun with my teammates, especially in the playoffs. I just want to be in that. So it definitely hurt. I was going through a lot just mentally and it sucked, man.”
The concussion served as a devastating conclusion to Keke’s transformative sophomore season. He became a mainstay on the interior defensive line in 2020 and played 414 snaps, a dramatic increase from his 94 snaps as a rookie. The 2019 fifth-round pick flashed his pass-rushing prowess and led the line with four sacks, two against the New Orleans Saints and two against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Keke partially attributed his improvement from Year 1 to Year 2 to a change in his offseason training regimen. In 2019, the Houston native met another Packers player who lived in Houston during the offseason: cornerback Tramon Williams. Last summer, Williams invited Keke to work out with him and his trainer, LeRoy Franklin, in Sugar Land, Texas.
“(I focused on) increasing my leg strength,” Keke said. “Full-body strength, really, but more legs. Primarily running a lot of hills and stuff like that. Conditioning, squatting a lot, different types of squats, a lot of reps, more reps than anything. A lot of weights. Not like a lot of weights that's killing my joints, but just a lot of reps. More muscle endurance, stuff like that.”
In the past, Keke incorporated heavier-weight, fewer-repetition exercises in his routine. By opting for more functional training, Keke said he felt a major difference in his pass rush during his second season.
“I don't think my body was in its best shape as possible or was not strong as I could've been (in 2019),” Keke said. “So it was definitely a learning curve for me Year 1 and then Year 2, now having the strength and all that stuff I can bring to the game, it definitely now allows me to really attack offensive linemen differently.
“Sometimes you don't want to power them … you can hit them with a nice move or quick little move on them (instead).”
Keke wasn’t the only one who noticed an improvement in his strength. Defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery saw it, too, and he noted it after Keke’s two-sack performance against the Eagles.
“I think guys have the assumption that, hey, pass rush has everything to do with speed rush and getting on edges,” Montgomery said. “And these guys have to learn that a lot of the great rushers, all right, it starts with power. And then when you're athletic and you have speed, those things counter off the power. So I think he's grown from that standpoint.”
At the end of the season, Keke said Montgomery encouraged him to keep his head down, work hard and carry the same energy into Year 3 that propelled growth in Year 2. His doctor in Houston cleared his return to football at the beginning of March. With his sights set on rebounding from the concussion that stalled his growth, Keke returned to Sugar Land to work with Franklin for a second offseason.
Last year, Keke was listed on the Packers' roster at 288 pounds. Now, he weighs about 301 pounds and aims to get up to 305. Keke looks to add muscle, not fat, to be stouter in the run game while maintaining quickness in his pass rush.
“I know I have talent to be able to do everything,” Keke said. “Get to the quarterback, be able to play the run, hustle to the ball. In all categories, everything I want to get better at.”
Off the field, Keke sought change, too. He’s now represented by Rashan Gary Sports, the agency founded by its Packers outside linebacker namesake. Keke was drawn to the agency because of its specialization in brand representation and management and because of his relationship with Gary.
“I just think they're gonna really work hard for me,” Keke said. “Not just based off how big I am or how small I am. Doesn't matter, they're gonna treat me the same and give me the best opportunity that's out there for anybody that signs with them.”
Now, as Keke heads back to Green Bay for organized team activities this spring, he looks forward to elevating his play once again, this time in new defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s scheme.
“I could tell it's gonna be a fun defense to play for,” Keke said. “So I'm ready. I'm excited for our defense and for myself as well.”