The Oakland Raiders have entered into a fairly predictable cycle with their big-legged kicker Sebastian Janikowski. Since suffering a strained hamstring prior to the Raiders week seven contest against the Kansas CIty Chiefs, Seabass has battled through the injury to save the team a roster spot the last two weeks. The team signed Dave Rayner for the Chiefs game, but has gone with Janikowski each of the last two weeks.
Janikowski will likely do some work Friday and/or Saturday to see how his leg is feeling. At that point the Raiders will once again decide whether they need to call in a free agent kicker. Rayner signed with the Buffalo Bills after Rian Lindell was hurt, but there are plenty of kickers on the market.
More than likely the Raiders will stick with Janikowski on Sunday against the Vikings. If it is anything like recent weeks, Janikowski will not get a ton of work on 50+ yard field goals. Even with his hamstring limitation he remains as strong as most kickers in the league. However, the team does not want him pushing it too hard. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for Janikowski to get back to 100% using this process.
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