Week Seventeen in Review

The NFL regular season is complete and all 256 games were played. Congratulations to Thomas Hennessy (Jets) and Rick Lovato (Eagles) who led all snappers with tackles in punt coverage, each totaling five. Lovato had one solo tackle as part of his five, while Hennessy had three solo tackles. Both were also the tackle co-leaders last season.

Colin Holba snapped for the Niners this week in place of Taybor Pepper who was on the COVID list. Andrew DePaola had a fumble recovery and tackle in punt coverage and Lovato added his only solo tackle for the season. Nick Sundberg (Washington) recorded his first tackle of the season, a solo stop.

Two snappers, John Denney (Saints) and Drew Scott (Cardinals), had tryouts this week. This was the second time Denney has worked out for New Orleans this year.

To briefly review this year at the snapping position, there were a number of performance related changes unrelated to COVID. Kyle Nelson (Niners), Beau Brinkley (Titans) and Austin Cutting (Vikings) all lost their jobs due to performance. In recent years, most changes have been due to injury, but physical injury was not much of a factor this season. There were also two special teams coaching changes during this season, which is also rare. Ben Kotwica (Falcons) and Brayden Coombs (Lions) were both replaced during the regular season.

With the regular season done for many teams, those out of the playoffs can sign players to reserve/future contracts that take effect after this season ends. Among the snappers that have signed are former practice squad members Dan Godsil (Bengals), Anthony Kukwa (Texans) and Carson Tinker (Giants). More signings are expected in the coming days.

In the coming weeks, Longsnap.com will track all of the special teams coaching changes, reserve/future signings and snappers heading to veteran free agency in March. Snappers in the upcoming NFL Draft class will also be featured and they face more uncertainty in the scouting process with all-star games, the Combine and Pro Days.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after the 2020 Regular Season is below.

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