It’s been an interesting few years for former Oakland Raiders punter Marquette King. He went from being one of the most exciting punters in the NFL and a second-team All-Pro selection to not being able to find a job. It wasn’t because of a lack of talent. King has proven time and time against that he is among the best punters in the NFL. The problem with King is that he’s way too much of a diva considering the position he plays. He only played four games for the Denver Broncos in 2018 before they grew tired of him and he’s been out of the league since.

After taking some time off, King has landed a spot in the XFL playing for the St. Louis BattleHawks.

He joins fellow former Raider Connor Cook in the XFL, who is going to play for the Houston Roughnecks. Considering King is only 31 years old and still has talent, he should dominate the XFL, which could be his first step back towards another shot in the NFL.

What Happened to King?

King falling out of favor in Oakland is purely his own doing. Once Jack Del Rio was jettisoned from the team in favor of Jon Gruden, King appeared on a tv show dressed in a costume and threw shade at the coach while he was still on the team. Obviously, Gruden probably wasn’t too happy about that and that played a role in his dismissal.

The punter eventually made his way to Denver to play for the Broncos and his hijinks ensued. He continued to diss the Raiders head coach and eventually got into a bizarre confrontation with a radio host. He was eventually placed on the injured reserve and then cut later that year. He then went onto rip the Broncos for the whole situation. If King was a wide receiver or quarterback, he might be worth all that drama. However, no team wants to deal with a punter who is going to make headlines for non-football topics.

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King Apologized to Gruden in April

It seems like the realization that his antics are the reason he is not in the NFL finally struck King in 2019. Back in April, he took to Twitter to issue a public apology to Jon Gruden.

It was a surprising move for King to publicly apologize to Gruden and shows maturity. Though it wasn’t enough to get him an NFL job, it was certainly a step in the right direction. If he kills it in the XFL and doesn’t cause any drama, he could find himself on an NFL roster eventually. It’s unfortunate how things played as the Raiders could really use his help. Johnny Townsend was very disappointing as King’s replacement and rookie A.J. Cole has been very inconsistent. Maybe eventually Gruden will let bygones be bygones and give King another shot if Cole continues to struggle. It’s unlikely, but there’s little doubt that King did play a big role during the Raiders’ 12-4 run in 2016.

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