Richard Seymour is Salivating

By MikeBullock  |   Tuesday, February 16, 2010  |  Comments( 8 )

Oakland Raiders
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Sebastian Janikowski is now the highest paid place kicker in NFL history. The Raiders and Seabass struck a deal on Tuesday reportedly worth $4 million per year over four years, with $9 million guaranteed. Let that sink in for a minute. $4 million dollars a year to kick a football and not really any accountability for how well it’s kicked. While Seabass may be a have a seriously strong leg, he’s not the best kicker in the league and certainly doesn’t deserve to be paid like it. The franchise tender for a kicker is roughly $3 million per year. So, once again, the Raider overspent on a player that smart money could have locked up for a lot less.

With mega money dumb deals being doled out to guys like DeAngelo Hall, Javon Walker, Tommy Kelly and now Sebastian Janikowski, the real all-pro difference maker on the Raider squad, Richard Seymour, has to be drowning in his own drool. Oakland cannot afford to let Seymour walk, nor can they easily replace him. He’s worth far more to the team than anyone else who has cashed in recently shy of Nnamdi Asomugha, and when push comes to shove, Oakland has given notice they negotiate like the class nerd in the cafeteria line when the bullies come calling for lunch money.

Based on Oakland’s recent strategy of folding like a lawn chair in contract talks, and considering the franchise tender for a defensive end currently rides just south of $13.4 million dollars, Seymour could likely be the NFL’s next $100 million dollar man. And, that may come in a contract as short as five or six years.

After that, the next men in line for a huge paydays are linebackers Thomas Howard and Kirk Morrison. And, don’t forget that Gradkowski guy, you know the one who made a serious difference on the field this year. But, he’ll probably get stiffed, since Davis only has eyes for the lazy kid from Louisiana.

Apparently, Al Davis has decided to scrap his old model of how to build a franchise and taken a page from Washington Redskin’s owner Daniel Snyder. If you can’t win a Superbowl, maybe you can at least try to buy one. Unfortunately, Davis must have missed the memo that says the Redskins aren’t any better off than the Raiders since they’re last Superbowl appearance.

While Janikowski may be the only kicker in the league with a chance to break the NFL’s field goal record of 63 yards, he’s had more than one chance to do so and failed. He has improved the Raider’s kicking game since the team drafted him, but isn’t a lock every time he takes the field like guys such as Gary Anderson or Morton Andersen were in their prime. In fact, Seabass may not even be in the top five place kickers in the league right now, which is what his pay would have been based on had Oakland franchised him. Going a million a year past that mark is insanity, even if he was the best kicker in NFL history, which he isn’t. While Janikowski was definitely worth keeping, he’s not the player to hang the franchise’s wallet on by any stretch of the imagination.

It’s anyone’s guess where Davis is getting the money to throw at players, but if Oakland doesn’t bring in someone with the sense to spread the wealth far enough to field a winning 53 man roster, instead of a few overpriced benchwarmers and two or three legitimate stars, it may be another seven years before Raider Nation celebrates a winning season again, much less a playoff victory.
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