Sebastian Janikowski’s Record Deal Might Have Been the Right Call

February 18, 2010   ·   Kendrick Marshall   ·   Jump to comments

Maybe Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis is on to something in making Sebastian Janikowski the NFL's highest-paid kicker.
With Janikowski signing a record four-year, $16 million deal, it forces the football world to analyze the value of not only special teams players, but place-kickers.
Janikowski is the Raiders' all-time leader in points scored, tallying a thousand during his 10-year career for a franchise that has been close to the bottom of offensive output since the 2002 Super Bowl season.  Just by flipping through any NFL record book, one would see that kickers—not quarterbacks, running backs, or wide receivers—usually appear near the top of in terms of scoring. 
In 2009 alone, the stout Polish kicker scored 95 of the Raiders 197 points.  Only the St. Louis Rams, who totaled 175 points, scored less than Oakland.  It's not a stretch to say Janikowski was the Raiders' most valuable player.  
Janikowski concluded the season making a career-high 89.7 percent o...

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