Raiders inform Sebastian Janikowski that 18-year run with team will end

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Speculation onSebastian Janikowski re-signing with the Oakland Raiders and reuniting with coach Jon Gruden has been quelled, as the team told the veteran left-footed place-kicker that it does not plan to bring him back for the 2018 season.

Raiders owner Mark Davis thanked Janikowski in a statement Thursday.

"The Raider Nation salutes Sebastian Janikowski as the sun sets on his illustrious career with the Oakland Raiders," Davis said. "He joined the team as a surprise first-round pick in the 2000 Draft and finishes his time in Oakland as one of the greatest or perhaps the greatest kicker in pro football history. His powerful left leg produced an NFL-record 55 field goals of 50-or-more yards. The motto 'Once a Raider, Always a Raider' has never been more true as his 18-year career makes him the longest-tenured player in Raiders history."

Janikowski, the Raiders' all-time leading scorer with 1,799 points (11th in NFL history), spent last season on injured reserve, and his locker was cleaned out by midseason.

He will turn 40 on March 2 and will be an unrestricted free agent.

Oakland is the only NFL home Janikowski has known. He said last offseason his goal was still to be kicking for the franchise when it moved to Las Vegas in 2020.

"Until they kick me out," Janikowski said in June, when asked how long he saw himself playing for the Raiders.

On Thursday,Janikowski's contract adviser, Paul Healy, said the kicker intends to keep playing.

"At 39, he's too young to retire," Healy said.

The Raiders' late owner Al Davis drafted Janikowski with the 17th overall selection in the 2000 NFL draft, out of Florida State. Gruden, who then was in the third season of his first tenure as Oakland's head coach, favored either receiver Sylvester Morris or running back Shaun Alexander in that draft.

"Thank God for Raiders fans they listened to Al Davis and not me," Gruden said during a radio interview more than a decade later of using a first-round pick on Janikowski. "I'll say he was right."

Janikowski played in a franchise-record 268 games in 18 seasons for the Raiders, converting 414 field goals on 515 attempts (10th most in NFL history). He also has made 98.9 percent of his PAT attempts (557-of-563).

His record 55 field goals of at least 50 yards includes a 63-yarder at Denver in 2011, which at the time tied a league record.

Janikowski appeared in Oakland's first two preseason games of 2017 before a back issue and reports of the Raiders wanting him to take a pay cut surfaced.

He took a $1 million pay cut and went on injured reserve the day before the season opener at Tennessee. Giorgio Tavecchio, a longtime camp leg, was signed, and he converted 16 of 21 field goal attempts, with a long of 53 yards.

ESPN's Adam Schefter contributed to this report.