
The peace and calm at the long snapping position is gone. It started in Week Five and continued in force this week. It was another week of big special teams plays and miscues, with blocked field goals and punts. There were also some new snappers this week.
Last week saw a controversial field goal block by the Giants against the Seahawks. A Giants player pushed down on snapper Chris Stoll but was not penalized. The official rules interpretation of that play was that “pushing down alone is not a foul and there was no forcible contact to the head and neck”. The Browns also executed a blocked field goal by leaping over Eagles snapper Rick Lovato.
New snappers appeared Sunday for Cleveland and New England due to injuries. Rex Sunahara, who was in training camp and the practice squad earlier this season for the Browns made his NFL debut in place of Charley Hughlett. Hughlett, who played 152 consecutive games for the Browns since 2015, in on injured reserve with a rib injury. He joins client Patrick Scales (Bears) and Evan Deckers (Buccaneers) as the other snappers on injured reserve.
Tucker Addington snapped for the Patriots after Joe Cardona suffered a calf injury Friday. Addington was first added to the practice squad and activated for the game Sunday.
In game action, Bears snapper Scott Daly, filling in for Scales, was injured after a punt snap. Tight End Cole Kmet, who scored two touchdowns, snapped as the emergency snapper. The Bears have a bye so it is not clear what Daly’s status is or if the Bears plan to add a snapper.
Earlier in the week, two teams hosted snappers for tryouts. Baltimore worked out veteran Jake McQuaide and later brought in Addington and Peter Bowden, while the Texans worked out Addington and Joe Shimko.
Three snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage, led by Casey Krieter (Giants) and Mitch Fraboni (Broncos) who each had a tackle and an assist. Zach Wood (Saints) added an assisted tackle.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Six is below.