The Oakland Raiders announced Friday that they’ve released P Marquette King.
King’s agent, Wynn Silberman, tells Michael Gehlken that this move is further indication that there’s a “changing of the guard in Oakland.
“I think there’s a little bit of a changing of the guard there, and there might be a repositioning of what’s important in terms of where you’re going to invest positionally,” Silberman said.
- According to Mike Garafolo, King went to the Raiders’ facility on Friday to meet some of the new coaches, but GM Reggie McKenzie pulled him aside and informed him that he’s being released.
- Tom Pelissero adds that there were some maturity concerns with King but the decision to release him is as much a cap-clearing move as anything.
- Vic Tafur says there were whispers of King’s personality not clicking with new HC Jon Gruden’s and he didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a punter.
This is a stunning move from the Raiders, as King has been one of the best punters in the league the past few years.
It’s worth mentioning that the Raiders signed P Colby Wadman to a contract earlier this offseason.
King, 29, originally signed by the Raiders as an undrafted free agent of Fort Valley State back in 2012. He was in the third year of his five-year, $16.5 million contract that included $7.75 million guaranteed and was set to make base salaries of $2.9 million and $2.8 million over the next two years of the agreement.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing King will free up $2.9 million of available cap space while creating $150,000 in dead money.
In 2017, King appeared in all 16 games for the Raiders and totaled 3,065 punt yards on 69 attempts (47.15 YPA) to go along with six touchbacks.
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