The XFL returns today but only six teams are using pure long snappers. Two other teams, DC and Orlando, are using position players to handle snaps despite each drafting a long snapper.
The only team that drafted a snapper and replaced him with another snapper was St. Louis who drafted Billy Taylor.
Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs and long snapper James Winchester on yesterday’s Super Bowl win which officially ended the current NFL season.
However, there is no off-season in the NFL, as attention will turn to the NFL Combine, veteran free agency and the NFL Draft. Alex Ward is the only long snapper invited to the Combine.
With respect to veteran free agency, the snapping position features a large class of free agents. While some may sign new deals before the start of free agency on March 15th, a total of 16 snappers are unrestricted free agents and can sign with any club if not re-signed.
Two other snappers are restricted free agents that have limited ability to move if offered a one-year deal and four others are exclusive rights free agents which means their teams retain their rights if they are offered a one-year contract.
The snappers in each category are below and will be updated as new deals are announced.
Many of the top long snapping prospects for the 2023 NFL Draft are taking part in college all-stars games to impress scouts and coaches.
The East-West Shrine Bowl takes place tonight, while the Senior Bowl will be played Saturday. Some other key post-season games have already been played.
Here are the snappers for some of the top all-star games this season:
SENIOR BOWL
Alex Ward (UCF) and Robert Soderholm (VMI)
EAST-WEST SHRINE BOWL
Matt Hembrough (Oklahoma State) and Chris Stoll (Penn State)
NFLPA COLLEGIATE BOWL
Soderholm and Dalton Godfrey (South Dakota)
TROPICAL BOWL
Austin Mock (Liberty) and Cameron Lyons (Charlotte)
HULA BOWL
Ward, Stoll and Evan Deckers (Duke)
FCS BOWL
Cody Clements (Eastern Washington) and Joe Skinner (West Georgia)
Posted inNFL, NFL Draft|Comments Off on 2023 College All-Star Game Long Snappers
It will be the Eagles and Chiefs in the Super Bowl and the game will feature experienced snappers on both teams. Rick Lovato (Eagles) and James Winchester (Chiefs) each won Super Bowls and this will be Winchester’s third Super Bowl appearance and Lovato’s second.
There were no tackles in punt coverage until yesterday’s Conference Championship games when Lovato added an assisted tackle and Cal Adomitis (Bengals) had a solo tackle.
Since the end of the regular season, one snapper, Joe Fortunato, signed a reserve/future contract with the Cardinals. Another free agent snapper, client Harrison Elliott, had a tryout with the Packers but was not signed.
Morgan Cox of the Titans was voted the best long snapper on the first-ever NFLPA All-Pro team selected solely by NFL players, while Andrew DePaola (Vikings) and Nick Moore (Ravens) were selected as the AP All-Pro team snappers. The entire AP All-Pro voting results, including the 12 snappers that received at least one vote, can be found here.
Tomorrow we learn who will play in the Super Bowl but, until then, we have NFL writer Rick Gosselin’s annual evaluation of every NFL team’s special teams units. This year marked the 42nd edition of his rankings and they produced some surprises.
Gosselin ranks every team in 22 kicking-game categories and assigning points for the best to the worst, with the lower total number the better. This year, despite not much success in the win column, the Texans special teams, led by Frank Ross, was the top unit. Ironically, two of the final four teams, the Eagles and Chiefs finished 31st and 32nd.
The top five special teams units were (ranked 1-5):
Houston Texans
Seattle Seahawks
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Buffalo Bills
The bottom five special teams units were (ranked 28-32):
New York Giants
Los Angeles Rams
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Philadelphia Eagles
Kansas City Chiefs
Posted inCoaching|Comments Off on Rick Gosselin’s 2022 NFL Special Teams Rankings
The first ever Week Eighteen of the NFL season is complete and the playoffs start this weekend.
There was a unique situation in the Packers game against the Lions yesterday, as Rasul Douglas of the Packers tried to knock the ball away from Lions snapper Scott Daly on a field goal attempt late in the game. Apparently it was to prevent a practice kick after the Packers called time out, but the strange play was penalized.
Congrats to Matt Overton who led all snappers this year with five tackles following two assisted tackles this week. Overton only started snapping for Dallas in Week Five.
The Bears worked out four snappers this week in case client Patrick Scales could not snap. Scales did snap Sunday, but the Bears signed veteran Kameron Canaday to the practice squad. The tryout also included Joe Fortunato, client Jordan Silver and Steven Wirtel.
In addition to Overton’s two assisted tackles this week, Blake Ferguson (Dolphins) had a solo and assisted tackle, while his brother Reid Ferguson (Bills) had a solo stop. James Winchester (Chiefs) and Zach Wood (Saints) also had solo tackles and Jacob Bobenmoyer (Broncos) recorded an assisted tackle.
The final NFL Long Snappers Chart for the 2022 Season is below.
Stayed tuned to Longsnap.com for the latest news on any long snappers signed to contracts for next season, how free agency will impact snappers, all star game snappers, special teams coaching changes and more.
NOTE: The Week Seventeen summary was written before the scary injury to the Bills Damar Hamlin in last night’s game.
There was some shaky snapping during the next to last week of the regular season in the NFL.
Hunter Bradley returned to the NFL with the Cardinals, but struggled on some snaps. Zach Triner of the Bucs also had a rare bad punt snap late in the game against the Panthers.
Bradley was signed by the Cardinals to the practice squad and elevated for the game after Aaron Brewer was placed on injured reserve. The Cardinals also worked out Joe Fortunato after signing Bradley. The Jaguars worked out Garrison Sanborn and Steven Wirtel last week and signed Sanborn to the practice squad in case Ross Matiscik could not snap. However, Matiscik was able to snap without issue Sunday.
Three snappers recorded assisted tackles in punt coverage this week. The three were client Patrick Scales (Bears), Jon Weeks (Texans) and Thomas Hennessy (Jets).
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Seventeen is below.
Week Sixteen is complete and, while it was tough week for kickers, snappers generally performed well. There was a rare snapping change in New England, as Joe Cardona was placed on injured reserve with a torn tendon in his foot, ending his season.
Cardona partially tore the tendon on December 12th but played through it last week. The Patriots will use Tucker Addington the rest of the season and he snapped well Saturday. Cardona’s 140 consecutive game streak ended due to the injury, but he is expected to be ready in the spring.
There may be another change at the snapping position coming in Arizona. Aaron Brewer suffered a torn pec Sunday and placed on injured reserve. It is unclear what the Cardinals plan to do at snapper for the remaining two games of the season.
The Broncos fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett yesterday and it also cost Dwayne Stokes his job as special teams coach. Mike Mallory will take his place for at least the final two games.
Congrats to Morgan Cox (Titans) and Andrew DePaola (Vikings) for being the two Pro Bowl snappers. For Cox, it is his fifth career selection to the Pro Bowl.
Five snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week. Cox, Cal Adomitis (Bengals) and Christian Kuntz (Steelers) had solo tackles, while clients Liam McCullough (Falcons) and Patrick Scales (Bears) added assists.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Sixteen is below.
Week Fifteen was another incredible week in the NFL with some amazing finishes and overtimes.
The Patriots were prepared to play this week without Joe Cardona, who had an ankle injury. In case Cardona was unable to snap, the team brought in Tucker Addington for a workout and later signed him to the practice squad. Cardona was able to snap Sunday, although he may have snapped a ball early on a punt snap that was blocked.
Fan voting ended for the Pro Bowl and the two snappers with the most fan votes were Thomas Hennessy (Jets) with 72,484 votes and Andrew DePaola (Vikings) with 93.948 votes. Players and coaches have also voted and the Pro Bowl team will be announced tomorrow.
Two snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage with Matt Orzech (Rams) adding a solo tackle and Rick Lovato (Eagles) adding an assisted tackle.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fifteen is below.
It was another quiet week at the long snapping position in the NFL. However, there was a notable achievement Sunday, as Panthers snapper JJ Jansen played in a franchise record 222nd game.
As of December 7th, Blake Ferguson (Dolphins) led the Pro Bowl fan vote for snappers in the AFC with 21,953 votes and Andrew DePaola (Vikings) led the NFC with 28,120 votes. In the initial fan vote tally released November 28th, Nick Moore (Ravens) led the AFC with 15,393 votes, while DePaola had 15,556.
The Steelers worked out snappers earlier in the week although none were signed. The snappers were Hunter Bradley, Thomas Fletcher, Brian Khoury and Steven Wirtel.
On Saturday night, Chris Stoll of Penn State won the Patrick Mannelly Award as the FBS snapper judged the most outstanding. The other two finalists were Alex Ward (UCF) and Matt Hembrough (Oklahoma State) and all are considered top prospects for the NFL Draft this April.
Four snappers recorded assisted tackles in punt coverage this week. Charley Hughlett (Browns), Matt Overton (Cowboys), Ross Matiscik (Jaguars) and Casey Kreiter (Giants) each had one assisted tackle.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fourteen is below.
