Raiders countdown to kickoff: 7 is Marquette King, who wore it best

This is the last worthless Sunday that you’ll have to spend. Pretty sure that’s what Don Henley was singing there. I’m gonna go with that and say he was talking about the final Sunday of the year without football. That’s today.

Exactly a week from today the Raiders will open the 2017 season against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. Number 7 for the Raiders is their flamboyant punter.

P Marquette King

Hoping to follow in the footsteps of the great Ray Guy who earned the honor of best to ever wear the number 8, Marquette King is the current punter for the Raiders. Since the moment King put on his cleats in Oakland he has had big shoes to fill. Ray Guy is the first and only punter ever elected into the hall of fame and the guy who was most recently the punter before King was Shane Lechler who might end up being the 2nd punter elected to the hall of fame before all is said and done.

King is doing his best to honor those previous Raider greats entering his sixth season in Oakland and his fifth as the full time punter.

Who wore it best: P Marquette King (2013- present)

If you were judging the best on longevity with the team, Jeff Gossett would be the best to wear it. But there’s no denying what King has done in his four years as the Raiders punter.

He already is up to 4th place in the Raiders history for punting yardage with 16,671 yards below only Lechler (48,215), Guy (44,493), and Gossett (26,747).

King led the league in punt average (48.9) in 2013. Only other Raiders to do that are Lechler and Guy. Lechler owns four of the top five highest average punt seasons. King has the other (4th).

King’s career 40.5 net yards per punt average is best in Raiders history and his 46.7 yards per punt average is second only to Lechler’s 47.5. Lechler has five of the Raiders top six best net punting yard average in a season. King has the other (2nd).

King is also fourth in Raiders history in most punts inside the 20 (128). He also has the top two seasons of most punts inside the 20 and three of the top five. He once had 6 punts inside the 20 in a single game which is the most in a game by any Raiders punter.