The Raiders have signed punter Marquette King to a contract extension, the team announced today in a press release. While the Raiders only classify the new deal as “long-term,” Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that it’s a five-year pact, locking up King through the 2020 season.
Rapoport adds (via Twitter) that the extension is worth $16.5MM in total – good for a $3.3MM annual average – with $7.75MM in guaranteed money. It’s not clear whether all that money is fully guaranteed, but King can make $10.75MM in the first three years of the deal, Rapoport notes.
King, 27, has been the Raiders’ full-time punter for the last three seasons, averaging 46.1 yards per attempt over that span. While his 44.5 yards per punt average in 2015 was the lowest of his career, King placed nearly half of his attempts (40 of 83) inside the 20-yard line, and his 40.7 net average was a career best. Opposing returners also totaled just 201 yards on King’s punts, with no touchdowns.
King had been set to become an unrestricted free agent if the Raiders hadn’t re-signed him by next Wednesday, though he was never considered likely to depart. Oakland has more projected cap room than virtually every team in the NFL, and could have deployed the franchise tag (worth $4.572MM) to retain King, if necessary.
With King off the market, Bryan Anger, Jon Ryan, Brad Nortman, and Shane Lechler headline this year’s group of potential free agent punters.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Easy decision for Oakland to make, and given how valuable he’s been, I was actually expecting an AAV closer to $4MM.