Sebastian Janikowski practices as Raiders’ lone kicker
ALAMEDA, Calif. — The sight was the same Wednesday as it’s been since 2000.
Sebastian Janikowski wore a No. 11 red jersey on the Raiders’ practice field. He stretched his lower body. He even took a practice swing with his kicking leg near reporters, a motion that revealed no visible hint of limitation to a back injury.
There is no question Janikowski will play an 18th season with the franchise.
It’s a matter if he will start on time.
Raiders coach Jack Del Rio declined to shed light on Janikowski’s availability for Sunday’s season opener against the Tennessee Titans. The team worked out kickers Josh Lambo, Mike Nugent and Marshall Koehn on Monday amid concern over the 39-year-old’s health. As of now, he remains the only kicker on the Raiders’ roster.
On Monday, ESPN reported that Janikowski’s roster spot was in jeopardy because of his lofty $4.05 million salary.
On Wednesday, it followed with a report the two sides “resolved” their contractual differences. The news recalibrates the Janikowski situation squarely on his health.
“Well I’m not good about forecasting things,” Del Rio said. “We’ll see how he goes through the work week. There was concern early in the week that we’ll need to see how he does, how he responds. We had some kickers come in here to make sure that we’re prepared in the case that he’s not able to go, that we’re covered. That’s really it.
“I think it kind of took on a life of its own with a lot of people reporting and speculating, but we’re just doing our due diligence. We’ll see how the week goes.”
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Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.
