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What happened to Marquette King? Raiders punter reveals why he believes he was blackballed from NFL
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- What happened to Marquette King? Raiders punter reveals why he believes he was blackballed from NFL
What happened to Marquette King? Raiders punter reveals why he believes he was blackballed from NFL originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
Marquette King was a second-team All-Pro for the Raiders in 2016.
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His last NFL games came just two years later.
Since then, King has still done plenty of punting in the other professional football leagues that have sprung up in the springtime. But he hasn't gotten an NFL chance since those four games with the Broncos in 2018.
King was a fan favorite in his Oakland days, and he was recently in attendance at the Raiders ' Monday Night Football game in their new home in Vegas.
He's 37, an age punters can still compete at, though, and King isn't out there.
What happened to Marquette King?
King believes he was blackballed from the NFL.
He spoke with The Athletic recently and said this:
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"I'm definitely blackballed. I'm definitely better than over half the punters still playing. That's just what it is."
Why does King believe that happened?
"I just had too much personality," King told The Athletic. "I got a lot of personality, and people just don't know how to handle that, or people who are insecure with who they are — (if) they don't feel like they can have some type of control over how you move or what you do, then it's an issue."
Michael Shawn-Dugar of The Athletic painted what the league's picture of King may have been:
"There were rumors he was a toxic teammate, that the penalties were his undoing and that the locker room soured on him because he trolled teammate Michael Crabtree by snapping a photo at the Pro Bowl with Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib , who infamously snatched Crabtree's chain during the 2016 season finale."
King tagged the Buffalo Bills in a post on X in October, but he told The Athletic he isn't actively seeking an NFL comeback. His days as one of the league's top punters appear to be a thing of the past.
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"I got seven years under my belt," King told The Athletic. "I did it. I still made an imprint in the game, no matter what."
