When Al Davis chose Jon Gruden as head coach of the Raiders in 1998, Gruden knew he would need veteran players to carry his message to the team.
At the time, Gruden was just 34 years old and understood that there would be challenges to gaining the respect of the locker room.
Now 54, but with a little more clout (ok, a lot), Gruden kicked off his second stint in Oakland the way he kicked off the first – by making a surprise roster cut.
Jon Gruden cutting Larry Brown in 1998 signaled to the #Raiders that things were going to change and that scholarship players were going to be expelled. Without Al Davis to fear this time, Gruden is free to purge whomever he doesn't see fitting into his scheme, program. pic.twitter.com/mZWkjpCgfn
— Steve Corkran (@CorkOnTheNFL) January 1, 2018
Lincoln Kennedy was one of the players Gruden leaned on in 1998, when the Raiders cut former Super Bowl MVP Larry Brown, to keep the locker room believing in his vision.
The current locker room isn’t going to turn upside down because Marquette King was cut, but in the present age of social media and public relations, King’s release was relevant to more than just the team morale.
NFL teams work hard and spend big in their efforts to create a positive public image. The perception of competent leadership is at the top of every team’s public relations agenda – particularly for a team about to enter a new and unproven market.
Gruden hasn’t been making the most popular decisions in free agency and King’s release was one of the most heavily scrutinized.
Fortunately, when it comes to King, Bruce Irvin has his coach’s back.
Irvin’s twitter account has been on fire for the past week and his support of King’s release has, in a way, rallied the fan base.
Y’all knew that’s where he wanted to b all along
— Bruce Irvin (@BIrvin_WVU11) April 5, 2018
Yo twitter followers cant save yo *** when u in between them white lines! 😂😂 😂😂
— Bruce Irvin (@BIrvin_WVU11) April 10, 2018
The thing about it is… it’s starting to sound like big Bruce is serious.
Last year, Irvin didn’t appreciate King’s mockery of the chain-snatching incident between Michael Crabtree and Aqib Talib and now Irvin says he has asked to play special teams against Denver when King is on the field.
Who isn’t up for that?
To name one, probably Marquette King.
twitter: @raidersbeat
King responses to Irvin? #crickets🦗🦗🦗
Don’t hear a lot of Donk players lining up to defend him either. Even they knew his Talib cuck act was Beta like a 🐝🐝🐝ccchhh. All head games, Irvin won’t earhole him like Tatum did Sammy White. But some UDFA ST guy might make a rookie mistake in coverage… things like that happen. That’s a lot smaller game check than Bruce’s. He got money for that. GO RAIDERS… #BI51RealAzzRaider