ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Sebastian Janikowski is entering his 18th NFL season after the Oakland Raiders used the No. 17 overall selection of the 2000 draft on the then-Florida State wild child.
So how much longer does this kinder, gentler "SeaBass" see himself kicking for the Raiders?
“Until they kick me out,” he said with a knowing wink following Wednesday’s mandatory minicamp practice.
Then does the franchise’s all-time leading scorer see himself still kicking for the Raiders when they move to Las Vegas by 2020?
“I hope so,” he said. “I mean, that’s my goal.”
A renewed work ethic and dedication to the weight room has the 6-foot-1, 258-pound Janikowski, who is scheduled to make $4.05 million in this, the final year of his contract, still seen as one of the game’s strongest kickers.
“At 24, I could do a lot of things,” he said with a laugh. “You’ve got to hit the weight room. You’ve got to work out better.”
Still, it is hard to fathom the Raiders paying $4 million for a kicker who will turn 40 years old next March.
Until then, Janikowski will continue plying his craft and, as Raiders special teams coordinator Brad Seely put it, being “coachable.” The veteran has scored 1,799 career points, 10th-most in NFL history, while booting the second-longest field goal in league annals at 63 yards and converting 80.4 percent of his career field-goal attempts, 98.9 percent of his PATs.
In fact, Janikowski said it was not until Seely arrived in 2015 that he started watching tape. “I never studied film in my life,” Janikowski said. “It’s something that, it helps.
“It was great. Good pointers. He has the idea of kicking. He knows it’s kind of like a golf swing.”
Meaning wrong foot placement will cause him to hook or push a ball.
“There’s always something to learn,” Janikowski said. “You can get better on kickoffs. You can get better on field goals. You can get stronger in the weight room. There’s always something you can learn. I’m still finding out what it is.”
It was a rare trip to the podium for Janikowski on Wednesday, and he took a page from new teammate Marshawn Lynch when Janikowski said, “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.”
But when it came to assessing Lynch, Janikowski lifted his eyebrows and smiled.
“Beast Mode, man,” he said. “Crazy good. I can’t wait to see him play.”
Lynch is expected to help the Raiders compete for a Super Bowl. Before last season, when Oakland went 12-4 and played in the postseason as a wild card, the Raiders had not been in the playoffs since 2002.
In fact, Janikowski went to the playoffs the first three years of his career but had to wait 14 years to return.
Now?
“We can make the playoffs, he said, “but the goal is to win the whole thing. Playoffs is not going to be good enough for us. I’m shooting for the ultimate goal -- championship.”