Why The Oakland Raiders Cut Marquette King
This week in “Dave plays catch up to old news that he didn’t hit when it was hot”, we have Marquette King of the Raiders surprisingly getting cut. It was a move that I think few saw coming, even Raiders fans who seemed to be aware of the conflicts in the locker room.
Main reason this came as a surprise: King is a very good punter. One of the better punters. Notably, he’s also the fun punter. He has a good twitter account and does silly dances when he does a good punt. While he wasn’t the cheapest of punters, it isn’t like punters are terribly expensive. The Raiders also didn’t really have a 2 punter controversy, like what happened to Chris Kluwe in Minnesota when the Vikings drafted a new, younger, sexier, cheaper, and less memelord punter. Why jettison a cheap position that helps a team?
Maybe because we actually have our first case of…diva punter?
I lurked a lot of Raiders communities when this happened because I don’t follow them too closely and the general consensus seemed to be that the locker room got sick of King. Keep in mind this was post-release, so Raiders fans were likely in full “He was never worth it” rationalization mode (which happens with every fanbase making a surprising cut). But King’s antics had resulted in a few penalties that hurt the team and one particular incident with noted buttmunch Aqib Talib seemed to cause a rift in the locker room.
Self-inflicted gunshot wound turd consumer Aqib Talib ripped off Crabtree’s chain and then at the Pro Bowl King took a goofy photo with Talib with Talib playfully pretending to yank his lanyard off. I thought the photo was harmless fun. Apparently the Raiders locker room felt differently and some players (Bruce Irvin especially) took great offense to this slight. King started to be seen as selfish and all about that social media charm instead of THE TEAM. I think it’s an over-reaction to some harmless fun but I’m not a hyper competitive football player in a tight locker room culture so I’m not really any authority here. If the Raiders felt slighted that badly then King probably should have known how his photo would be received.
Anyway Jon Gruden the coach hates fun so he’s a Bronco now. We get to look forward to the…Punter revenge game? That’ll be new.
You really did this just to have the “bananas” tag, didn’t you?
King in Denver makes me happy. Denver’s been lacking at the line, and at special teams. In today’s NFL, an All Pro punter is worth more to the team than an All Pro running back. A top-tier return specialist, a top-tier punter, and a top-tier offensive and/or defensive line, and everything else can be mediocre, and you’ll be a 8 team in the NFL, every year.
You’re underestimating the importance of blocking on special teams, both for the punter and returner
An offensive line is going to be blocking for the punter, so no .
Blocking for the returner is an aspect, sure– blocking is always important. But a true return specialist, who is worth having the spot, is worth 10 yards of field position, all else being equal. If you have return blocking, that just sets the starting point back.
I was actually thinking about the punt coverage, but blocking is also important and isn’t just the O-line, there are several other players involved in blocking pints and they’re very important.
Yea, you will be 8-8
*meant top 8.
But but that’s not how you run Spider 2 Y Banana…
Aho Coach looks interesting.
He is an ok punter, but he is no Tress Way.
The best way is the Tress Way.
Let me tell you somthing, when your punter has more ball time than most of your players, your offence is trash
As a former Rams fan, and a Johnny Hekker fan, I know this is a true statement.
FINALLY A PUNTER COMIC
I think the first “Diva Punter” was Numero Uno Pat “Boomstick” McAfee (Smackafee). Since he did refer to himself like that.
I think that the first DIVA PUNTER was “Numero Uno Pat ‘Boomstick’ (Smackafee) McAfee” He did refer to himself like that and danced as well. He was one of the leading punt tacklers during the 2011-2012 season.
He called himself a Diva but he wasn’t one. Divas are selfish locker room problems and McAfee was always a good teammate.
Shouldn’t Gruden have learned his lesson about “revenge” I mean the guy won his super bowl by getting revenge on his old team, the Raiders.
Didn’t the Bears draft a punter in the second round, I don’t know, 15-20 years ago? I can’t remember his name so I guess he didn’t cause too much permanent damage, but he seemed like a diva at the time.
That depicts the team really well. They are trash.
The most important question here is: did he fall into the bowl?
well, it’s finally happened, Dave’s gone bananas…
I don’t really know why, but I always loved special teams. \When I played Madden, I would always draft high overall kickers and punters (so usually Justin Tucker and Marquette King). People usually overlook such things like special teams, offensive line play, ect. But after watching the Chargers screw all this up, I’m just freaking out. The one thing about special teams plays is that everyone expects nothing to happen. But when you’re on that one good run on ST (or you’re just Coradelle Patterson), you can just weave through the opposing team and end up in the end zone with everyone freaking out. ST touchdowns are 99% of the time, the most unexpected touchdowns. We see a billion fair catches, a bunch of runs that go 10 yards and get stuffed behind the 20, or make it around the 20. Sometimes a little past that, but not much.
It’s not just that, but kickers and punters are also overlooked. You don’t really focus on a kicker because you just think, “meh, as long as they drain every XP and get most of the FG they’re good.” But what if you had a guy that nailed every one, every time, no matter the distance. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about getting a kicker for years. You need a kicker that is clutch, because if not, then you see several instances where games were on the line, and the kicker missed it. I saw it happen three times in four games this past season. One to win, two to tie and go to OT, and Koo misses all three. Then we just put some mush together just to last the rest of the season. Then we sign Roberto “Wide Right” Aguayo, as we watch our former kicker Josh Lambo nail a 52-yard FG in the playoffs. Why, what have we done to deserve this, football gods?
Also freakin Travis Benjamin running backwards and ends up being a safety for the Pats, just why. We had LT, we had Rivers, we had San Diego, we had it all, and now it’s gone. Big freaking RIP. Please just ban the Spanos family from the Chargers organization already.
Love how this turned from an analyzation to rant, always happens.
BB doesn’t overlook special teams.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/11/02/bill-belichick-press-conferences-special-teams-quotes
I didn’t hear this news either. I was about to comment “maybe the Giants could pick him up” and then I read the desc.