Oakland Raiders: The more King talks, the more he proves Gruden right

Former Oakland Raiders punter Marquette King was a surprising cut, but he’s showing us all the decision to release him was well justified.

Oakland Raiders HC Jon Gruden sent a shockwave through the Raider Nation when he released punter Marquette King – one of the better punters in the league. Reactions immediately begin to flow, many in support of the decision, others expressing confusion and dismay.

But, now that we’ve had a few days to digest it all – and King has had time to find a new home – we’re starting to see that maybe Gruden wasn’t so off his rocker after all.

The ink wasn’t even dry on King’s pink slip when immediately, the stories started to flow about the reasons for his dismissal. A dismissal, it’s interesting to note, didn’t seem to be mourned by many of his teammates.

Bruce Irvin aside, it’s been, more or less, crickets from King’s former teammates about his departure. It’s a silence that speaks volumes.

Now, obviously economics played a role in his dismissal. The Raiders will save a tick under $3 million in cap space by setting him free. That $3 million, given the limited space they have to maneuver right now while still needing to upgrade other areas, is nothing to sneeze at.

However, the bigger part of the equation may be personality. Gruden is an old-school, no-nonsense kind of guy who doesn’t take kindly to players who put themselves before the team. And if there’s one thing we know about King, it’s that he loves being on center stage. He loves the attention and focus being on him.

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Gruden though, has no time for players who dance with flags and draw 15-yard penalties. Especially when that person is the punter.

He’s a free spirit, fun-loving, suck the marrow out of life guy, yeah. We get it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But, when those antics start impacting the team, that’s when Gruden is going to have a problem.

Showing up to practice in a Power Rangers costume is one thing. Taking stupid penalties that hurt your team on the field is something else entirely.

There’s no doubt King’s antics – such as chumming it up with Aqib Talib after the first round of the Michael Crabtree chain snatching incident – rubbed his teammates the wrong way. Irvin was no doubt, echoing the sentiments of others with his “No Loyalty” Tweet.

There’s also no doubt that King’s antics this offseason haven’t endeared him to an old school guy like Gruden. Everybody recall the interview he gave wearing a crown and carrying a scepter where he low-key dissed his new – well – now former coach?

And now that he’s found a new home in Denver – a move partly driven by his desire for “revenge” – it hasn’t taken King long to sound off at all. And by sound off, we mean take a shot at Gruden and his former team.

"“The cool thing about the Broncos is the people that work at the Broncos encourage you to be yourself. That is real cool. Players play a lot better when they can let their hair down and be themselves. It’s cool.”"

King speaks as if former HC Jack Del Rio was running some sort of rigid, conform-or-die type of organization. In fact, it was pretty much quite the opposite. Del Rio encourage his players to “be themselves,” and look how 2017 turned out.

As far as playing better when they can let their hair down – Tom Coughlin was a notorious disciplinarian and he won a couple of Super Bowls. Bill Belichick and the Patriots aren’t exactly known for their cut loose, free spirited style and they’ve had a little bit of success.

And of course, during Gruden’s first go ’round with the Raiders, he was much as he is now, and the Raiders were pretty successful then too. In fact, the Raiders haven’t had the kind of success they enjoyed since Gruden left the first time.

So, what exactly, does King know about what it takes to win? About how and what makes somebody play better?

Under Del Rio, the Raiders had a laid back locker room. Players were allowed to be themseles. And as a result, it lacked any sort of discipline whatsoever, leading them to be one of the most penalized teams in the league annually, and led to a fractured, dysfunctional locker room to boot.

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There’s a fine line between letting players be themselves and letting a locker room descend into anarchy. Del Rio obviously lost sight of that line, and it’s a mistake Gruden is not going to make.

There is no question that Gruden is there to help right the ship and get this organization turned around. For may reasons – including proving his own detractors wrong – Gruden is there to win.

King let his own ego and overinflated personality go to his head and seemed to be more there for himself than anything.

In Denver’s thin air, we’re probably going to see some booming kicks coming off of his foot. He may even pin the Raiders deep when they play. And sure, he’ll have his laughs, make his jokes, and post his videos. But, the next time a punter wins a Super Bowl for his team is going to be the first time.

Winning titles takes a lot and it takes something King seems to have no concept of – teamwork.

What makes it worse is that he just doesn’t seem to get it. And the more he talks, the more he shows he doesn’t get it – he just proves that Gruden made the right call in sending him packing.

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