The Oakland Raiders and Sebastian Janikowski reached agreement Tuesday on the richest kicking contract in NFL history.You know how you can tell it's a Quentin Taratino movie just watching a scene? Well, that's the same thing as Al Davis, you can tell something's an Al Davis dealing when the term "richest kicking contract" is in the sentence.
It also removes arguably the top kicker from the free-agent market. Other notable free-agent kickers are expected to include Cincinnati's Shayne Graham and the New York Jets' Jay Feely.Shit. Now what are teams going to do about their open kicker situation? it's not like they can't pull guys off the street or take the 10 open guys who won't get drafted this year because it's dumb to draft a kicker (same in fantasy football too!)
In 10 seasons, all with the Raiders, Janikowski has scored 1,000 points, converting 78.4 percent of his field-goal attempts (229 of 292) and 313 of 316 extra-point attempts. He scored 95 points in 2009.Also, among active kickers he's: 13th in Extra Point Percentage, 27th in Field Goal Percentage, and 14th in total Field Goals made. Those numbers just SCREAM amazing contract don't they?
Janikowski is coming off the best season of his 10-year career. He made 26 of 29 field goals, with his only misses coming from 45, 57 and 66 yards. He made six kicks of at least 50 yards, including a 61-yarder that was the fourth longest in NFL history.OK, I won't be a complete hate-ah, those are pretty good numbers. But this article won't go downhill will it?
Janikowski also had 17 touchbacks on 58 kickoffs for the sixth-best mark in the league last season.Hmmm, how do you say "slippery slope" in Al Davis' world? "6th best" doesn't really go hand in hand with a blockbuster deal, does it?
The Raiders used a first-round pick to draft Janikowski in 2000, making him the first specialist in 21 years to go in the first round. Janikowski did not emerge as the game-changing kicker owner Al Davis hoped for at the time.Oh right, I forgot, Al Davis doesn't know how to properly value kickers at all. Because even though no team would ever draft a kicker before the 6th round, Al David decided to waste a first round pick on Janikowski. Of course this new Janikowski deal makes sense. Dude was a first rounder! WOAH!
He missed 10 field goals as a rookie, and connected on only 76 percent for his first three seasons. But he has been very consistent the past two seasons, making 41 of 44 kicks inside of 50 yards. He became the all-time leading scorer in team history in 2008.This article doesn't really point out the other seven years where Janikowski was also crap between his rookie season and these past two seasons.
The Raiders have traditionally done a good job keeping their own free agents.They also do a good job of losing games, poorly evaluating talent, having a head coach more times that a crack head smokes up, and running a beloved franchise into the ground.
They gave record deals last February to keep Pro Bowl punter Shane Lechler and star cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and also gave a big deal to keep defensive tackle Tommy Kelly in 2008.Like we needed any more proof that Al Davis probably has had Alzheimer's for the past few years
The focus now turns to defensive lineman Richard Seymour. Oakland traded a 2011 first-round pick to New England for Seymour before last season. He had four sacks, but two of the them came in the season opener. If Oakland cannot sign Seymour to a long-term deal by Feb. 25, the team is expected to use the franchise tag to keep him for next season. Seymour, a five-time Pro Bowler, would be guaranteed $12,398,000 with a franchise tag.What's with this crazy hypothetical that they might not throw a lot of money at a washed up player who won't perform well for their team? Did this guy just read his own post?
This article is from ESPN.com. Also, sincerest apologies if I offended anyone with my Alzheimer's comment.
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