Should Be No Surprise That This Is How Janikowski's Time With Raiders Winds Down

Sebastian Janikowski was supposed to last forever. Of course, 15 years ago, he was very much day to day, and not in a good way.

But the end seems clear now. He is committed to a one-week deal while he and the Oakland Raiders figure out how much less than his contractual amount of $4 million they intend to pay.

Janikowski has aged, as most non-warlocks do, and he is not the certified weapon Al Davis saw him as when he drafted him in 2000, but he is more expense than asset in their view now, as every long-serving kicker save Jason Hanson and Jim Bakken has discovered. Legs get old, and then they carry their owner to the car.

So all that's left, really, is the matter of when Mark Davis honors him at halftime and lets him light the Al Davis Grill. Janikowski's resume is that of one of the game's greatest kickers. It might even be Hall of Fame-worthy if kickers were recognized as real people by the industry that employs them.

After all, he tried and made more 50-yard field goals than anyone else ever, and his average (55 percent) is higher than anyone else who kicked even half as many from either natural surfaces or sea level.

Indeed, he can be considered the best kicker ever in substandard conditions, though one could make an argument for either Robbie Gould (Chicago) or Phil Dawson (Cleveland).

But as we said, nobody's warranty is unlimited in football, and his triumph over his early dissolute lifestyle is almost as inspiring to the Raiders as his future viability. Almost, we mean.

Sebastian Janikowski will end his career as a proper servant for the club, and the next-to-last Raider player to serve under Al (long snapper Jon Condo, since you were going to ask). But it should be no surprise that his career ended with a contract issue rather than glorious last moment in the sun. After all, this is a bidness, and bidness comes to us all.

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