{"id":5723,"date":"2016-11-08T17:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T22:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=5723"},"modified":"2016-11-08T16:48:09","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T21:48:09","slug":"oakland-raiders-release-sebastian-janikowski-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2016\/11\/08\/oakland-raiders-release-sebastian-janikowski-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"The Oakland Raiders Must Release Sebastian Janikowski in 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As tough as it must be for fans of the<strong> Oakland Raiders<\/strong> to admit, <strong>Sebastian Janikowski<\/strong> is not the kicker he used to be. The Raiders took Janikowski, best known as <em>Seabass<\/em>, with the 17th pick in the first round of the <strong>2001 NFL Draft<\/strong>, and he&#8217;s been a rare source of consistency on the team. However, as the Raiders move forward, the <strong>Pro Bowl<\/strong> kicker needs to be left behind.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Alright <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RaiderNation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#RaiderNation<\/a>. We all love Seabass, but is it time to move on?<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; LWOS Raiders (@LWOS_Raiders) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LWOS_Raiders\/status\/795999759542734850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 8, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Oakland Raiders Must\u00a0Release Sebastian Janikowski in 2017<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3>Inconsistency<\/h3>\n<p>Frankly speaking, Sebastian Janikowski just isn&#8217;t the kicker he used to be. The &#8220;<em>Polish Cannon<\/em>&#8221; has missed five of his eight field goal attempts of at least 50 yards, tying the entire 2007 season. In fact, Janikowski&#8217;s six misses are the most in the entire league. Only four kickers have a worse field goal percentage than Janikowski, and none of them have attempted anywhere near as many kicks.<\/p>\n<p>Once upon a time, Janikowski was automatic. Only five years ago, he broke an NFL record by successfully making a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kk968VCdxXY\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> 63 yard field goal <\/a>against the <strong>Denver Broncos<\/strong>. Unfortunately, those\u00a0days seem to have passed him by. Whether it&#8217;s because he&#8217;s 38 years old or for other reasons, Janikowski still isn&#8217;t the kicker he used to be.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, Sebastian Janikowski isn&#8217;t the only kicker having troubles. In fact, only <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/T\/TuckJu00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Justin Tucker<\/a><\/strong> of the <strong>Baltimore Ravens<\/strong> and the ageless wonder, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/V\/vinatada01.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam Vinatieri<\/a><\/strong> of the <strong>Indianapolis Colts<\/strong>, have been perfect this year. Even typically sure-footed kickers like <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WalsBl00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blair Walsh<\/a><\/strong> of the Minnesota Vikings have struggled in 2016. But there&#8217;s a difference between those kickers and Sebastian Janikowski.<\/p>\n<h3>Money<\/h3>\n<p>Sebastian Janikowski is set to make $8.37 million over the next two seasons. If you average the top ten kicker contracts in the NFL, they make $1,627,400 dollars, and in 2017, Janikowski is set to make more than twice that. That&#8217;s absolutely ridiculous.<\/p>\n<p>If Janikowski was still consistently drilling it from 50+ it would be one thing, but he isn&#8217;t. As his rate of play has fallen, his rate of pay has grown more excessive. Someone who specializes in making long field goals shouldn&#8217;t miss multiple field goals in a game, like he did against the <strong>Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/strong> two weeks ago. It&#8217;s true that it was windy in the stadium, but if Vinatieri could make <em>that<\/em> kick in the snow fifteen years ago, Seabass should be able to handle a stiff breeze.<\/p>\n<p>If the Raiders cut Janikowski after this season, he&#8217;ll still carry $360,000 of dead cap, but he&#8217;ll also free up $4 million. While that\u00a0might not seem like a lot in the wacky world of the National Football League, the Raiders are going to need every penny they get over the next couple of seasons.<\/p>\n<h3>Future<\/h3>\n<p>Where might $4 million\u00a0come in handy for general manager\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=McKeRe20,McKeRe21&amp;search=Reggie+McKenzie&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reggie McKenzie<\/a><\/strong>? How about when he&#8217;s attempting to re-sign the stars that have helped revive the Raiders? Quarterback <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/CarrDe02.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derek Carr<\/a><\/strong> will be a free agent after the 2017 season, and defensive juggernaut <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MackKh00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Khalil Mack<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s contract expires the year after that. And in 2019, the thrilling <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/CoopAm00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amari Cooper<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s contract will also expire. As three of the best young players in the NFL, all three of these men are going to want big paydays.<\/p>\n<p>McKenzie is a cap-magician, almost single-handedly rescuing the Raiders from the cap hell that the likes of <strong>Al Davis<\/strong> and <strong>Hue Jackson<\/strong> left him, but the reality is that there is a salary cap. McKenzie will likely attempt to front-load all of the contracts so he&#8217;ll be able to get the big paydays out of the way, but every penny counts. Imagine trying to re-sign <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MannPe00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peyton Manning<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WattJ.00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">J.J. Watt<\/a><\/strong>, and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BeckOd00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Odell Beckham<\/a><\/strong> Jr. over the span of three years. That won&#8217;t be cheap.<\/p>\n<p>Reportedly, the Raiders want to re-sign Carr to a &#8220;Luck-ish contract&#8221; as soon as possible. This likely means the young passer and the Raiders will come to terms on a deal as soon as this spring. Janikowski has been a fan favorite, but he&#8217;s never been able to will the Raiders to victory like Carr has this season.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Boot<\/h3>\n<p>The sad reality is that the NFL&#8217;s all-time leader in kicks of at least fifty yards will likely be a cap casualty after this season. The Raiders are good again, and keeping the likes of Carr, Mack, and Cooper are more vital to their success than a kicker with a big leg. Maybe they can restructure his deal, and maybe they&#8217;ll re-sign him to a more reasonable price-tag, but don&#8217;t be surprised if <strong>Giorgio Tavecchio<\/strong> is the one kicking extra points in Oakland next season.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/619304206\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 67.676768% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/619304206?et=m-dB25jzTRBJKG2-Gfm_kA&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=BZenEKpyIgaI9DTW11Qx_PJdWDCf66BU2ri_8sfM58A=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"402\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the 2016 season, the Oakland Raiders must release former first round pick and fan favorite, placekicker Sebastian Janikowski.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1347,"featured_media":5732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,17],"tags":[231,61,358,40,157,417],"class_list":["post-5723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-raiders","tag-derek-carr","tag-football","tag-khalil-mack","tag-nfl","tag-oakland-raiders","tag-sebastian-janikowski"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1347"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}