The last time we heard of former Las Vegas Raiders punter Marquette King was… a couple days ago? In the XFL? Did his relationship with the Silver and Black really sour to a point of no return? Can’t they work together once again?
King made the news when he fielded the perfect punt last Sunday. Take a look via the XFL’s Twitter account.
.@MarquetteKing just had…maybe the greatest punt ever?*
— XFL (@XFL2023) February 10, 2020
*It ended up being a touchback 😔 pic.twitter.com/KDeocnuEeo
He still has the leg.
So why is it that King is punting for the XFL and not the NFL? The veteran wondered out loud as recently as last September.
https://twitter.com/MarquetteKing/status/1170744721699790848?s=19
Of course, there are many reasons why. It was reported back in the day that head coach Jon Gruden wasn’t a fan of his personality, but even if that were true, why would the Raiders be receptive towards Antonio Brown and not King. NFL players aren’t robots and even though playing football is their primary function, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with a little fun.
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Some of his antics were straight up immature (if not entertaining) and ended up costing the Raiders. Again, people mature and I’m not saying the team should straight up sign King, but at least, they should do their due diligence and see if a reunion is plausible. If Gruden didn’t like King’s comportment, the punter says they could have talked to him and he would’ve changed, but they never approached and him and instead ended up cutting ties.
At the end, Gruden has to decide what’s more important, to boost his ego, brag about how he shipped away King or to bring back the punter if he really wants to win. Incumbent A.J. Cole is affordable and serviceable, but not in the same punting realm as King.
Plus, Cole would never do any thing like this…
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