Former Oakland Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski may be 40 years old, but the man still has a cannon for a left leg.
The Seattle Seahawks are apparently well aware of that and have now come to terms on a one-year deal with the man known as Seabass, according to the team’s official website.
Seattle had been actively attempting to replace Blair Walsh but had little luck to this point. It seemed as though the realistic remaining options would likely be either Janikowski or an option in the 2018 NFL Draft. Apparently, the Seahawks chose to go with the former.
Janikowski missed the entire 2017 season after he was placed on injured reserve just before Week 1 of the season with a back injury. The Raiders called upon Giorgio Tavecchio to fill the void, and he did so admirably. In turn, Oakland opted to stick with their younger kicker for the remainder of the season and eventually inform Janikowski they wouldn’t be bringing him back in 2018.
The Raider legend had a superb career with the Silver and Black, converting on 414-of-515 field goal attempts (80.4 percent) in 268 games. He also made 557-of-563 extra points while converting on over 80 percent of his kicks in 11 of the 17 seasons he played in.
While Janikowski is widely-considered an excellent long-distance kicker, he did struggle a bit from 50-plus yards in 2016. He went 3-8 that season from over 50 yards despite hitting a 56-yard field goal. But inside of 50, he was money and hit all but one attempt. He also only missed two extra points that season.
In general, the veteran kicker has been steady hitting 55 percent of his kicks from over 50 yards, 74.7 percent of his kicks from between 40-49 yards, 90.8 percent from between 30-39 yards and 97.4 percent from inside 30. He’s also made 98.9 percent of his extra points and has only missed three since they moved the extra point back.
Currently, the Seahawks have kicker Jason Myers on their roster as well, so the expectation is that there would be a kicking competition during training camp. With that said, there’s also the chance Seattle opts to release Myers and use his roster spot and cap hit on a free agent or the upcoming NFL draft.
