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The Las Vegas Raiders had a tough season as a franchise last year. After their head coach was dismissed over controversial emails, one of their top wide receivers was arrested following a tragic drinking and driving accident which left one woman and her dog dead.
Despite the awful setbacks off the field, the team managed to pull together and claim a wild card spot in the playoffs. But back before all that, when John Gruden first came to the team, he made one cut that still stings to this day.
In a new interview with Audacy’s Silver and Black Today - a Las Vegas Raiders show, punter Marquette King opened up about his sudden release from the Raiders.
“I never met the guy before. I never talked to him. I tried to reach out to Rich Bisaccia, he left me on read… Any time I get a new coach, I try to reach out to him, get to know him, but I never got a chance to meet any of them. I never got a chance to talk to any of them. It was just the weirdest thing ever. It actually kind of hurt. It felt like a loss.”
King also spoke about what he believes led to his being cut from the team.
“Raiders felt like home. That was home. Staying in the bay was home. Wearing those colors, I couldn’t see myself wearing any other colors. I honestly should’ve took a year off. I was just so scarred from that, man. Feeling like somebody just has a motive behind just letting you go.
"I honestly don’t understand. I think it was hate. That’s what I feel like. 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.”
Although Raiders got a top performance from King in six years with the team, he was cut without explanation
From 2012 to 2018, King led the league in punting yards and, in 2014, set the franchise record, all while with the Las Vegas side. Despite never having met Gruden, King was released, and the move had a devastating effect on the punter that still sticks with him today.
King went on to sign with the Denver Broncos in April of 2018, but his contract was terminated when the team reached an injury settlement with him. He then played briefly for the St. Lois Battlehawks in 2020, before the XFL league suspended operations. He remains a free agent in the NFL.
