How close are Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler?

Janikowski knew his best friend was announcing his retirement even before Lechler did.

Lechler didn’t play in 2018 after rejecting overtures from three teams. He knew he was retiring but hadn’t figured out a way to make it public. Enter Erin Lechler, Shane’s wife, who quietly organized a retirement party in Houston for approximately 180 guests.

Her husband reacted as if he’d shanked a 20-yard punt.

Janikowski, as well as a handful of former Raiders teammates, flew in for the celebration.

“I guess he thought it was a surprise party for someone else,” Janikowski said. “Everybody kept it real quiet.”

As Janikowski was mingling and hoisting a few beverages with Lechler and his guests, he was keeping a secret. The man long known to friends, teammates and opponents as “Seabass” was retiring as well.

“I was done,” Janikowski said. “I just didn’t want to say anything it because it was Shane’s time. We never discussed it.”

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Given the bond between Janikowski and Lechler, it was entirely in character. They first met in 1998 at a preseason All-America photo shoot in Arizona. Janikowski was the nation’s top place kicker at Florida State and Lechler a thunder-footed punter from Texas A&M.

Janikowski was left-footed and from Walbrzych, Poland, by way of Daytona, Florida. Lechler was right-footed and from East Bernard, Texas, a Lone Star state native to the core.

There was no way for either to know that Al Davis, hoping to get his struggling franchise back on track, was going to make them both Raiders.

Davis’ long-stated goal of having a team that “looks good coming off the bus” extended to his kickers in 2000, with the 6-foot-1, 240-pound Janikowski and the strapping 6-2, 220-pound Lechler offering a striking contrast to the rest of the NFL.

The two briefly discussed being teammates at the NFL scouting combine in 2000, when Lechler was the holder and Janikowski converted 18 consecutive field goal attempts without a miss.

The Raiders were coming off an 8-8 season, in part because of place-kicking difficulties. On draft day, Janikowski was considered a late first-round possibility. When the Raiders came up to No. 17, Davis told Jon Gruden he was getting a new kicker.

The Raiders had discussed selecting Sylvester Morris, a wide receiver to pair with Tim Brown, and Shaun Alexander, who went to be a productive running back with Seattle. There was sentiment the Raiders might be better off with Joe Nedney, who arrived late in the season and delivered a game-winning overtime field goal to knock the rival Chiefs out of the playoffs.

“Al leaned over to me and said, ‘You’ve just got to trust me on this,'” Gruden said this week. “‘This will be the Raiders’ leading scorer for the next 15 years.’ He was right.”

Once Janikowski was drafted, Lechler figured the Raiders were out of the mix.

“When he went 17th, I thought, `that’s probably not where I’ll be going,” Lechler said. “But in the fifth round, Al drafted me. Or maybe it was Al and Gruden. I really don’t know.”

Regardless of how it happened — Davis always had the final say — Janikowski led the Raiders in scoring for 17 straight seasons. His 58 field goals of 50 or more yards are the most in NFL history.

Lechler, who played 13 of his 18 seasons with the Raiders, finished with a 47.6-yard gross punting average that is the highest in NFL history.

Their time in the NFL is over, but the Janikowski-Lechler friendship will span their lifetimes.

Janikowski arrived with a reputation for partying and winding up on the police blotter. That and the fact that he didn’t speak English until high school after moving from Poland made him hesitant with the media. Lechler, his training camp roommate, wound up doing most of the talking.

“I thought Seabass got judged pretty harshly for what had happened in the past, and since I was his good friend, people would ask me, ‘Is he a wild man?,'” Lechler said. “The way I’d put it was this: He likes to have a good time, it’s just that some people are so judgmental. I’d say, hold on, don’t judge this guy until you know him.

“I promise you, if I ever needed anything in a tough situation, he’d be my first phone call.”

Janikowski, 41, and Lechler, 42, grew up speaking different languages on different continents, but quickly found common ground. Besides football, there was golf, ping pong, video games and more. Usually there was wagering involved.

“There was some money changing hands,” Lechler said.

“He came from a competitive, athletic family and I did the same thing,” Janikowski said. “Even playing a stupid game of cards during training camp, we wanted to beat each other.”

JANIKOWSKI!!! Happy retirement to a man with one of the biggest legs of all time!!! pic.twitter.com/P8T1UZmVHH — NFL Throwback (@nflthrowback) April 28, 2019

In their younger years, those competitions occasionally came at a pool table or dart board at late-night establishments. A drink or two may have been involved.

“They were two pieces of work,” Gruden said. “They were both fun to be around, and when they got together, I had a feeling they had as much fun off the field as on it.”

Janikowski had some accuracy issues at the outset, but he and Lechler joined the Raiders at the right time. As rookies, the Raiders were 12-4 and hosted the AFC championship game, losing to Baltimore 16-3 after quarterback Rich Gannon was injured on a belly-flop tackle by Tony Siragusa.

Year 2 was the “Tuck Rule” loss to the New England Patriots, a game in which Janikowski was primed to be a hero for kicking 35- and 48-yard field goals in a driving snow. The Raiders lost 16-13 in overtime.

After Gruden was traded to Tampa Bay came the 48-21 drubbing at the hands of their former coach in Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego.

And then came a 10-year abyss, with eight seasons of 10 or more losses, never finishing above .500, and a record of 48-112.

“It was so painful,” Janikowski said. “You wanted to do good for Al Davis and Mark Davis. You wanted to do it for the fans. I loved the Coliseum.”

When the Raiders made no attempt to sign Lechler in 2013 free agency, he left for his home state and the Houston Texans. He would host Saturday morning meetings for teammates and relay what happened with the Raiders.

“I’d tell them, ‘Do not, by any stretch, take this for granted,'” Lechler said. “I’d tell them how fast things can turn the other way, how long it takes to get out of it, and sometimes it feels like you never will. It’s a tough man’s game, but on the other side, it’s a very fragile game. After we lost the Super Bowl, I thought, ‘We’ll be here next year.’ That’s the way it was going to be.”

By the end of their tenure together in Oakland, much of the communication between Janikowski and Lechler was unspoken.

“I knew what he was thinking. I knew what he was feeling,” Lechler said. “I knew what kind of mood he was in within two minutes of seeing him in the morning. When it got to game days, he didn’t even have to talk to me. I knew where the wind was going. I knew how he wanted the ball tilted. It was just, ‘Hey, swing it like it’s practice.’ Boom.”

After being released by Houston last season, Lechler had in-season overtures from Denver, Minnesota and Pittsburgh. But he had no interest in uprooting his family, nor did he want to go there alone. He told his agent to stop accepting phone calls.

Janikowski, meanwhile, played a final season in Seattle, He had a respectable season for a playoff team, but conceded he was never truly healthy. A back injury that landed Janikowski on injured reserve with the Raiders in 2017 was still an issue.

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Lechler and Janikowski are living a parallel existence in Texas and Florida. Lechler has 10- and 14-year-old daughters who are into competitive softball and volleyball. He coaches a 10-and-under softball team that plays all over the state.

Janikowski spends much of his time with his wife Lori shuttling his twin daughters (they’ll be 7 in September) to soccer practice and tennis lessons. Plus he’s got a third daughter who will be 3 in December.

“They’re usually in my room in the morning at 7:15, waking me up,” Janikowski said. “You’d be surprised how fast the day goes.”

Lechler wanted to take a full year off before getting back into football in some capacity, but there’s talk of forming a national school for kicking and specialists with Janikowski and former Raiders long-snapper Jon Condo.

Before then, Janikowski expects the two will get together to talk about both the good old days and life after football.

“We haven’t done it yet, but I’m sure it will happen soon,” Janikowski said. “I think it’s perfect that we went out together.”