Janikowski sheds no light on his situation
Team wants kicker to take a cut to his salary
There was a Sebastian Janikowski sighting on Tuesday.
Surrounded by increasing uncertainty about his Raiders future after 17 seasons, Janikowski walked off the practice field with the rest of the squad after the team’s brief workout.
His mere presence here on this date guaranteed him 1/17th of his $4,050,000 salary — about $238,000 — according to ESPN’s
Adam Schefter.
If Janikowski remains on the roster beyond 1 p.m. on Saturday, the day before the regular-season opener against the Tennessee Titans, the former Pro Bowl kicker will be guaranteed his full price tag.
But there’s the mystery: The team wants Janikowski, the fourth-highest-paid kicker in the NFL, to take a pay cut in the final year of his deal.
Janikowski shed no new light on the situation Tuesday. He rarely speaks to the media even in the best of times, so it was no surprise when he politely declined to field questions about his contract impasse.
A team source said Janikowski is expected to appear on the Raiders’ first injury report Wednesday. The kicker is battling back problems and missed the last two exhibition games.
In the meantime, the Raiders reportedly worked out three kickers Monday — Mike Nugent, Josh Lambo and Marshall Koehn, all of whom were released by their
teams at Saturday’s final cutdown.
In all, the situation has echoes of how Janikowski wound up in Oakland in the first place. In 1995, the Raiders cut Jeff Jaeger in a cost-cutting move and turned things over to Cole Ford going into the season.
That set off a rapid change of kickers over the next few seasons including Ford, Greg Davis, Michael Husted and Joe Nedney.
The Raiders ended the carousel by taking Janikowski with their firstround pick, No. 17 overall, in 2000.
Janikowski now holds the NFL record with 55 field goals from 50 yards or more. He is the Raiders’ all-time leader in games played with 268. (Tim Brown ranks second with 240.) The kicker is also the Raiders’ all-time leading scorer with 1,799 points, which ranks 10th best in NFL history.
• The debut of secondround draft pick Obi Melifonwu will have to wait until midseason or later. Melifonwu and guard Denver Kirkland were placed on injured reserve, meaning the earliest either player could be brought back is in the ninth game of the season.
Players added to the roster were Erik Harris, a safety waived by the New Orleans Saints at the final cut-down, and Xavier Woodson-Luster, a linebacker who was waived by the Raiders at the cut to 53.
Melifonwu, a 6-foot-4, 224-pound safety out of UConn, was drafted with the hope of being a hybrid safety and linebacker who could assume some of the responsibility of guarding tight ends.
• Cornerback David Amerson, who sustained a concussion in an Aug. 26 exhibition game against the Dallas Cowboys, said he has the green light to return to practice. “I’m good. I’m clear,’’ he said.
Amerson, listed as the starting left cornerback, said he is eager to be part of a defense that must improve in 2017.
“There’s a bond there and an energy that everyone is moving with,’’ he said. “I feel like (the defense) is going to shock a lot of people.”
• After getting cut by the Saints, safety Erik Harris said he was at the New Orleans airport when the Raiders called to offer him a deal. The only problem? He was within an hour of hopping on a flight to Buffalo for a workout with the Bills.
Harris scrambled to get his bags unchecked and rerouted himself to the Bay Area. Upon arriving in Alameda, he said his first goal was to make his mark on special teams.
“Right now, my job is to earn their trust and earn their respect,’’ said Harris, who played from 201315 in the Canadian Football League. “I’m here do whatever role they want me to play.”