At one point, Marquette King shied away from speaking about his struggles of landing another NFL opportunity. Between 2013 and ’18, the former All-Pro punter played for the Broncos and Raiders, averaging 46.7 yards per punt, the fifth-best average in NFL history.
Even more, King was the 2014 NFL punting yards leader and earned second-team All-Pro honors in ’16 with the Raiders. Still, other than playing in the now obsolete XFL for five games with the St. Louis Battlehawks in ’20, King has yet to land another chance in professional football.
More than a week ago, King said in a series of tweets that he was “done fighting” for a fair chance and that black punters and kickers still do not receive equal opportunities in the league. King continued the conversation on Thursday when he went in-depth about the Raiders releasing him in 2018 on the Silver and Black Today – A Las Vegas Raiders Show, saying that it was based off “hate” from then-Raiders coach Jon Gruden, who King never met with before he was released.
“That’s what I feel like,” King said, via 95.7 The Game. “That’s the only way you can be like that towards somebody if you never met them. I don’t know, some people just got hate in their heart.”
On the show, King recalled bringing a series of gifts for then Raiders special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia and Gruden after being told his new coach had an uptight personality. After a strong season with the franchise, in hopes of building a relationship with leadership, King met with then-Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie, who informed him that Gruden did not want him in the franchise and that they were preparing to release him.
While King was shocked by the Raiders’ decision, so was his teammates that include former Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch, who did not believe King when he shared the news with him.
“Marshawn [Lynch] didn’t think it was serious,” King said. “He was pretty pissed off when he heard about it. Next thing you know I saw it on Twitter … and I was like damn, I ain’t ever get cut before.”
King said playing for the Raiders felt like home and he had plans to be like the team’s former special teamers like Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler, who each spent more than a decade with the franchise. Instead of “staying in the Bay’ and playing for the Raiders,” King was cut and was “scarred” behind the franchise’s move.
“…I tried to reach out to Rich Bisaccia, he left me on read,” King said. “Any time I get a new coach I try to … get to know him, but I never got a chance to meet any of them. … It was just the weirdest thing ever. It actually kind of hurt. It felt like a loss. I was just so scarred from that, man.”
While the 33-year-old has not announced his NFL retirement, King recently stated that he felt “blackballed and blacklisted” despite consistently putting in work for another chance.
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