ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Breakups are never easy, but contract stalemates may be even more awkward. Especially when the couple has been together for so long -- since 2000 -- and both parties want it to work out.
Just at different prices.
Hence the possibility of a nasty divorce between the Oakland Raiders and Sebastian Janikowski. Throw in the notion that the kicker is also dealing with a back issue with the season less than a week away, and, well, things get messy.
Are the Raiders playing a needless game of chicken with SeaBass?
As far back as mandatory minicamp in June, there was the sense that it was hard to envision the Raiders paying $4 million this season for a kicker who turns 40 in March.
And as reported by ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Monday afternoon, the Raiders want Janikowski to take a pay cut. They went so far as to fire a warning shot across the bow of the SS SeaBass by working out a trio of kickers -- Mike Nugent, Josh Lambo and Marshall Koehn -- per ESPN's Field Yates.
Janikowski, who did not play in the Raiders' third or fourth preseason games while purportedly nursing that back issue, has apparently balked at the pay-cut request. He is entering the final year of his contract.
There is a real deadline in place here, because if Janikowski is on the Raiders' roster at 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday on his current deal, $238,000 of his $4.05 million salary for 2017 becomes fully guaranteed, per Schefter, with the entire salary guaranteed on Saturday.
And while there are many who say a kicker is just an easily replaceable widget, Janikowski means much more to the Raiders.
He was a first-round draft pick in 2000, No. 17 overall, as owner Al Davis' selection when coach Jon Gruden wanted either receiver Sylvester Morris or running back Shaun Alexander.
"Thank God for Raiders fans they listened to Al Davis and not me," Gruden laughed years later during a radio interview. "I'll say he was right."
Janikowski went on to become the franchise's most prolific scorer, with 1,799 points, 10th-most in NFL history, and his 268 games played and 17 seasons are also Raiders records. His 63-yard field goal in Denver in 2011 tied the record for longest in league history at the time, and he has converted 80.4 percent of his career field goal attempts, 98.9 percent of his PATs.
He still has one of the strongest legs in the game, as his 55 field goals of at least 50 yards are an NFL record.
The timing of Oakland potentially parting ways with Janikowski is awkward, what with the season opener being Sunday at the Tennessee Titans and with neither Nugent, Lambo nor Koehn having ever worked with long-snapper Jon Condo or holder Marquette King. Giorgio Tavecchio has, but he was cut on Saturday after an uneven preseason during which he missed both a makeable field goal attempt and a PAT.
And who can forget the growing pains King had with Janikowski when he replaced Shane Lechler as holder after 13 seasons in 2013, with Janikowski missing nine field goals?
A new kicker would certainly deal with some unknowns, and that would be an unnecessary potential pitfall for a team on the rise. But even if Janikowski is simply hurt again, it's hard to see the Raiders wanting to pony up that $4 million for an injured kicker. Especially with the NFL norm being non-guaranteed contracts that favor teams over players.
Yes, the Raiders are seemingly a team ready to take that next step to contend, but distractions like a holdout by Pro Bowl left tackle Donald Penn, constant questions on when first-round draft pick Gareon Conley is going to get on the field, high-priced cornerback Sean Smith facing assault and battery charges, Marshawn Lynch sitting during the national anthem and a contract impasse with a kicker who is more than a mascot get in the way.
Indeed, Janikowski wants to still be kicking for the franchise when it moves to Las Vegas in 2020. So I asked Janikowski back in June, during mandatory minicamp, how much longer he wanted to kick.
"Until they kick me out," he said.
Stay tuned.