The New York Giants have the opportunity to make a significant upgrade to their special teams and they need to strike fast.
The New York Giants are in need of a new punter after cutting Brad Wing a few weeks ago. It just so happens that a veteran punter became available as on Friday the Oakland Raiders cut punter Marquette King as reported by Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
The 29-year-old King has spent all five of his NFL season with the Raiders and has appeared in every game.
For his career, he’s punted the ball 426 times, averaged 46.8 yards per punt, and 156 of his punts have landed inside the 20-yard line. He was voted second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press in 2016 when he averaged 48.6 yards per punt.
Last season he punted the ball 69 times, averaged 47.4 yards per punt, 28 of his punts went inside the 20-yard line, and he had a net average of 42.7 yards.
In contrast, last season for the Giants, Wing punted the ball 95 times averaged 44.1 yards per punt, 19 of his punts went inside the 20-yard line and had a net average of 36.7 yards. He also shanked a few punts at key moments in the season such as his 28-yard punt in the final seconds of the Giants 27-24 week 3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
So it makes sense that for the Giants to pursue King, but if they want him they’ll need to act quickly. The Minnesota Vikings have expressed interest in acquiring King, Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press reports.
Acquiring one of the league’s best punters would greatly improve the Giants special teams which were mediocre at best a season ago. The question is will Dave Gettleman be able to offer King and his agent a deal that’s too good to pass up before the Vikings or another team reach a deal with him.
