By Jordan Long
This past weekend, all eyes were in Nashville, Tennessee for the NFL Draft. That wasn’t the only NFL news. One of the top kickers in the NFL decided it was time to walk away, Sebastian Janikowski, after 19 years.
Janikowski started his career with the Oakland Raiders. He was selected 17th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft by the Raiders. Teams usually don’t take a kicker in the 1st-round let alone 17th. They wait until the 2nd or 3rd round if not later for a kicker. The Raiders had a need at the kicker position and felt he was the right pick at that number.
In his 1st year Janikowski didn’t kick that well as he was 22-32 or a make percentage of 68.8%. Janikowski showed how strong his leg was with a long of 54. Janikowski didn’t miss an extra point that season. The Raiders made the playoffs that year and advanced to the AFC Championship game only to lose to the Baltimore Ravens. Oakland trusted him to nail field goals as he was 3-4 for a long of 36 yards.
Oakland made the playoffs 4 times with Janikowski and advanced to 1 Super Bowl. They faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII but were drummed 48-21.
Janikowski’s top season for Oakland was 2012. That year he rarely missed with a field goal with a make percentage of 91.2. His long was 57.
Janikowski moved on from Oakland and went to Seattle for the 2018 season. That one and only year in Seattle, Janikowski made 81.5% of kicks with a long of 56 yards.
Janikowski decided it was time for him to leave the game. He is 41 which is old for a kicker. Janikowski has done a lot in the game of football. He finishes his career making 80.4% of his field goals with a long of 63 yards. When it came to PAT’s, Janikowski only missed 9. He was always a reliable kicker. When Oakland or Seattle passed the opponents’ 50 yard-line and the drive stalled, Janikowski more times than not would add points to the scoreboard with a field goal.
Janikowski leaves the game 10th on the NFL All-Time scoring list for kickers with 1,913 points scored. He was selected to the Pro-Bowl once. The only thing missing in his career is a Super Bowl ring. Janikowski should be considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 5 years. He showed he was one of the top kickers to ever play the game. Hopefully Janikowski will have that highest honor at some point because he deserves it. le 4 Accen
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