Why the Raiders made another player the highest paid at his position. Andrew Brandt
The Raiders have again rewarded a player with the most lucrative contract at his position. At this time last year, they signed punter Shane Lechler to a four-year, $16-million deal that made him the league's highest-paid punter. They also did a stunning contract with cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha that not only made him the highest-paid player at one of the highest-paid positions in football, it also gave him a fully guaranteed deal of more than $45 million for three years, a truly shocking football contract.
Now ESPN reports that the Raiders have rewarded kicker Sebastian Janikowski, whose five-year contract was due to expire next week, with a staggering contract (for a kicker) worth $16M over four years, with a jaw-dropping $9M guaranteed. It’s good to be a productive player on the Raiders with an expiring contract.
Janikowski, a true unrestricted free agent (UFA) with more than six years in the league, was clearly headed toward a franchise tag, a number of only $2.8M for 2010. The Raiders could have had him at that price in 2010 and then franchised him again in 2011 (assuming there’s football) for 120 percent of that number. After two years of franchise tags, they would have had to place the league-high tender on him, a number probably over $20M, which they never would have done. But for two years, at least, they could have retained his services for around $6M.
Instead, they have jumped the market and given him 50 percent more than that number in a guarantee alone. And with a kicker's age not being an issue, especially if he joins a dome team in four years, he will have another bite at the free-agency apple in 2014 at age 36, a few years younger than some kickers who played in the NFL this year.
Why would the Raiders do this? Certainly they feel Janikowski is the top kicker in the league and eclipsed the previous high-water mark for kickers when the Titans gave Rob Bironas a four-year deal for $12M, staving off a franchise tag of $2.48M a year ago. Now, with the franchise tender having gone up barely more than $300,000, the Raiders have made Janikowski the highest-paid kicker by a significant margin. Simply, they wanted the player long-term, perhaps saving their franchise tag for Richard Seymour.
As many agents have told me, the words they long to hear on the phone at this time of year are, "Please hold for Mr. Davis."
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If this were a guy who had won game after game for his club up to and including playoffs and the SuperBowl I could almost see it. This move however just shows
1) The Raiders have no other reliable scorers
2) Al Davis has dementia
@Mach, #3, the Raiders also have the best Corner, Punter and Kicker in the NFL and they takr care of their own.
The Polish Toe obviously slipped Davis a Roofie.
Dana
Maybe save the $9 million signing bonus on someone who can get the ball in the endzone
The best kicker in the NFL was Nate Kaeding at 91% and 51 more points than Janikowski
Lechler had the best punt average because he was in the top three in punts attempted.
Good punter who has the opportunity because the Raider can't convert on 3rd down.
The leading receiver was Murphy with 34. As for who throws to them, Russell, Frye and Gradkowski - take your pick. Russell may be the worst strting QB in football. Running back by commiitee - thats always successful.
Giving that kind of money to Janikowski is like a baseball team paying through the nose for a top closer when they don't have the bats to get the game to him in the 8th or 9th inning - a luxury they can't afford
The Bears have a fine punter and kicker too. Again they were in the top 10 in special teams. Cleveland was number one, N.O. near the bottom.
Sure, it's great to give your O and D good field position and get a sure three points. But in the NFL, between the 20s is all for show and inside the 20s is all for dough. You need TDs, not FGs to win.
Nobody but a doddering fool builds a team from Special Teams out.
But Diana is right about one thing: Old Man Davis is loyal. No wonder everyone still wants to play for duh Raiduhs - you get paid a bunch and no one really expects you to win. Commitment to Excellence!
I can't take this anymore. I'm done. I no longer have the energy to rip on Al Davis. Al gives the fans SO MUCH ammo to make fun of the guy it's exhausting. Taking every opportunity to rip on his horrible moves is so labor intensive it's like a freaking homework assignment. I'm not even a Raider fan and I've ben beaten into submission. God speed Raider fans, god speed.
Stop being so melodramatic!! SeBass is the highest scoring Raider in the clubs history. He deserves a big contract. Lechler is the best Punter in NFL history...why not pay him for it. Namdi is one of the top 3 shut down corners in the NFL, pay the man!! The only people that didn't deserve the conracts they got were Kelly, but he's improving, Russell, Ok he stinks, and Hall, but he's gone and his contract won't effect us anymore. At the time, yes we paid him too much, and it was a mistake, but get over it. Al is our Gm. Can't change that. Al is our owner. Can't change that. Get over it. A true fan is willing to support his team during the peak years and the tough times. Al Davis may not be the leader he was back in the day, but if you look at the Oakland pattern we are due for some good years. Early 80's we won a super bowl, early 90's, we were in the play-offs with a stong team, eary 2000's we went to the super bowl, and now, after a period of decline we are do for our typical surge to the Super Bowl before another massive crash. That's what comes with being a Raider Fan.....deal with it.
The only people Al overpaid for are 3 guys????
You're out of your mind.
How about:
Javon Walker
Darius Heyward-Bey
McFadden
Terdell Sands
Jerry Porter
And a bunch of stiffs no longer on your roster.
Does the name D'Angelo Hall ring a million dollar bell?
Raider Clueless Nation
Stop being so melodramatic!! SeBass is the highest scoring Raider in the clubs history. He deserves a big contract. Lechler is the best Punter in NFL history...why not pay him for it. Namdi is one of the top 3 shut down corners in the NFL, pay the man!! The only people that didn't deserve the conracts they got were Kelly, but he's improving, Russell, Ok he stinks, and Hall, but he's gone and his contract won't effect us anymore. At the time, yes we paid him too much, and it was a mistake, but get over it. Al is our Gm. Can't change that. Al is our owner. Can't change that. Get over it. A true fan is willing to support his team during the peak years and the tough times. Al Davis may not be the leader he was back in the day, but if you look at the Oakland pattern we are due for some good years. Early 80's we won a super bowl, early 90's, we were in the play-offs with a stong team, eary 2000's we went to the super bowl, and now, after a period of decline we are do for our typical surge to the Super Bowl before another massive crash. That's what comes with being a Raider Fan.....deal with it.
SeaBass most likely did not get a 9 million signing bonus.
The 9 million in guarantees is probably made up of
2 million 2010 salary
4.4 million 2010 signing bonus
2.6 million 2011 salary
Al Davis has lost it. Poor Raider Nation. Just like being a Cub fan. The suffering will continue.
GBL keeps going up in price. So J'ski needs more money.
Kick his a@s Seabass!
How's Kaeding clutch kicking doing for your playoff outcomes, Bolts fans?
Raising the floot for kickers might squeeze the ceiling for teams with lots of free agents....
maybe Al ends up freeing someone like Floyd off your roster with a move like that.
Mack,
You try to downplay Lechler by saying his average is high only because he punted so many times. Uhh, it's an average man, the number of attempts is insignificant. If anything, punting so often provides more opportunities to shank it and lower the average. Having the highest average with the most attempts only shows that the man is consistently better than the rest.
Kaeding was the best kicker for the Jets this year, 0% when it counted. He was only 75% from 40 - 49, where kickers show their worth. Jano was 90% from that range.
The Man Who Stuck It To The Organization, And Moreso, The Fans, That Took Him In, TRADED FOR HIM, Mind You, When He Was An Addict, And A 280-Pound Lump Of Nothing In Atlanta, And Loved Him Like He Was Their Brother.
He is such a great kicker. He has definitely had is problems but he is the best kicker in the league. You will not find anybody any better.
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Feb 16, 2010
02:41 PM
Keep the tag for Seymour. Seabass will get his anyways. This seems to be an item that was planned as if a cap was still in place, to raise the floor.