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The Oakland Raiders made history today by signing kicker Sebastian Janikowski to a record-breaking deal. Al Davis broke a record of his own today as well, officially becoming the craziest and most inept man in the NFL.Davis used to be a great football mind. He was a driving force in the merger of the AFL and the NFL, and was a huge reason why the AFL was even in the conversation with the NFL. However, those day are long, long gone.
Once you sign a kicker to a four-year, $16 million deal with $9 million guaranteed, you're officially the craziest man in the league.
There is absolutely no way that Janikowski and his agent went into that room to negotiate this kind of a deal. He made $1.5 million in 2009, so with one good season over the past five, no one expected him to get a $2.5 million raise.
As far as base salary goes, Janikowski is now making more than Matt Stafford, Mark Sanchez, Vince Young, Alex Smith, and Chad Henne. Those are five starting quarterbacks who are now making less than a kicker.
It's not a knock on Janikowski by any means. If someone offered to overpay me by at least $2 million, I'd take it too. The knock is on Davis and the entire Raiders organization.
Instead of spending that money to improve the several other areas of need for this team, he decides to splurge on a kicker. Shane Lechler, clearly the league's best punter, has got to be licking his chops and already have the down payment on a new car, or maybe a small island.
I guess we see how Davis is going to treat an uncapped 2010.
