Kog's pick rate has always been pretty low

Even at the absolute heights of Kog's popularity (when he's been remade or when he has been over-tuned) Kog has never managed to creep above a 15% pick rate. I probably don't even need to mention that there are a few champions who have sat at 20%+ for months (or years) at a time.

There's a reason for that, I think. And I suspect it mostly has to do with agency.

By agency, I mean the ability to make things happen. Some champions have agency due to their range. They can poke at their foe from long range. Others have agency due to target-selection skills. Abilities that let them absolutely wreck a single target from far away or initiate a fight on them. Others have agency via the use of aggressive mobility.

Now, take a look at all the Marksmen who are perennially popular. They can all make plays. They can all make things happen. They all have tools available to them that allow them to go on the offensive when the situation calls for it. And Kog, well, before the remake Kog could poke with his R pretty well. That was some degree of agency on his part, but he had to wait until level six to get it. But now his R is basically a waste of mana against anything above 50% HP. Kog doesn't even have his poke anymore. He's now completely reliant on his team (or the enemy team) making aggressive plays.

He has no agency.

And that's why I suspect most of the player base thinks Kog is boring. Because Kog doesn't do things. He reacts to things. And the recent changes to Kog's Ult have only made the situation even worse, Kog's current under-tuned state notwithstanding. I don't like Riot's focus on Kog as 'the hypercarry your whole team has to babysit' for a whole lot of reasons. But the reason I hate that direction the most is because it totally removes Kog's ability to actively do anything.