On Friday afternoon, the Oakland Raiders cut their favorite punter Marquette King in an expected and surprising move. King had played for the Raiders for five seasons and was among the best players at the position. In the year 2016, he was a second-team All-Pro, and in the last season, he ranked third in the NFL in the net average and pinned his opponents with a 20-yard line on 40.6% of his punts.
In February 2016, the Raiders had signed King with a five-year extension contract worth $16.5 million and were due to pay $3.05 million in this year. However now, as per sources, by releasing him the team will save $2.9 million against the salary cap.
The Raiders have another punter Colby Wadman whom they had signed earlier this month. King’s agent Wynn Silberman said that King’s salary was most probably the factor in this shocking move by the team under Jon Gruden, their new head coach and Rich Bisaccia, special teams coach.
Silberman said that everyone is a little surprised by the move. He said that based on his conversations with the general manager Reggie McKenzie and Oakland, they are still trying to figure out exactly the reasons behind such a decision.
On Friday, both Silberman and King had gone to the Raiders’ facility to meet the new coaching staff. While some of the coaches were away, McKenzie was there and gave King the news, Silberman said.
King became a part of the Raider’s’ primary punter in the year 2013 after being signed as an undrafted free agent out of Fort Valley State in 2012. In his past five seasons, King averaged 46.8 yards per punt and pinned the opponents inside the 20 on 156 of 426 attempts. Kings were also Raider’s primary holder on field goals as well as extra points is now an unrestricted free agent. Silberman expects King to come up with plenty of interest.
