Antonio Ortiz, a rookie snapper from TCU, was signed by the Bears after a tryout this weekend. Ortiz, who was also scheduled to tryout for the Cowboys next weekend, was one of six tryout players signed by Chicago.
Eight teams had tryouts this past weekend, while the remaining 24 will occur this weekend. Longsnap.com is tracking all the tryouts and transactions and will provide another update after the final round of rookie mini-camps next week.
For the first time since 2014, no long snapper was selected in the NFL Draft this weekend. In addition, just one snapper, Cal Adomitis from Pitt, signed a free agent contract after the Draft. Adomitis signed with the Bengals, where he will compete with veteran Clark Harris.
Some other rookie snappers earned tryout opportunities during rookie mini-camps over the next two weekends. They include Antonio Ortiz (TCU) with the Bears and Cowboys, Daniel Cantrell (Boise State) with the Raiders and Seahawks, Cameron Kaye (Troy) with the Packers and Billy Taylor (Rutgers) with the Jets.
Prior to the Draft, the Falcons signed client Liam McCullough after a tryout that included Brian Khoury. McCullough will compete with veteran Beau Brinkley who the Falcons signed in early April. During the Draft weekend, the Jaguars extended the contract of Ross Matiscik through the 2026 season.
With the signing of Adomitis by the Bengals and McCullough by the Falcons, four NFL teams have two snappers on the roster as of today. The two other teams are the Panthers who have JJ Jansen and Thomas Fletcher, while the Steelers have Christian Kuntz and Rex Sunahara.
The USFL season got underway this weekend and, following a weather delay, the final game of the first week was completed last night.
Each team is using the long snapper they selected in the initial or supplemental draft except for Birmingham, who recently added former Charger Ryan Langan.
While snappers generally performed well, kickers were less successful, with just three field goals made out of 10 attempts.
In what will likely be the final two signings of the NFL veteran free agency period, the Bucs recently signed Zach Triner to a new two-year deal and the Falcons added veteran Beau Brinkley. The only remaining unsigned veteran snapper that finished the season on an NFL roster is Matt Overton.
Triner was not tendered a one-year contract as a restricted free agent by Tampa Bay, but did ultimately sign back on a more reasonable deal covering the next two seasons. Brinkley, who signed with the Bears early in the off-season before being waived after Chicago re-signed client Patrick Scales, replaces Josh Harris who signed with the Chargers.
With the NFL Draft at the end of the month, teams will likely fill any remaining snapping needs from the pool of college prospects. As of today, only the Panthers and Steelers have two snappers on the roster.
Veteran free agency for NFL long snappers is almost over and just a few days after it began. Almost every unrestricted free agent snapper has return to their club with Josh Harris, who left Atlanta for a new five-year deal with the Chargers, the notable exception.
Jake McQuaide (Cowboys), client Patrick Scales (Bears), Clark Harris (Bengals), Casey Kreiter (Giants) and Aaron Brewer (Cardinals) all returned to their teams on one-year deals.
With Harris moving to the Chargers, Matt Overton remains one of the few veteran free agents not under contract. Beau Brinkley was waived by Chicago after the Scales signing and is also available.
Another snapper technically on the market is Zach Triner of the Buccaneers. He was not tendered as a restricted free agent but could be back in Tampa Bay soon. Tampa Bay and Atlanta are the only two teams without at least one snapper on the roster.
Veteran free agency begins this week and three snappers have signed new deals before it starts. Morgan Cox will return to the Titans for another year. Prior to Cox’s deal, Jon Weeks signed a one-year contract to return to the Texans and Beau Brinkley, who spent time with the Cardinals and Chargers last season, signed a one-year contract with the Bears.
There are seven veteran snappers that can sign anywhere if not re-signed this week. The snappers are Aaron Brewer (Cardinals), Josh Harris (Falcons), client Patrick Scales (Bears), Clark Harris (Bengals), Jack McQuaide (Cowboys), Matt Overton (Chargers) and Casey Kreiter (Giants).
Zach Triner (Bucs) is the only restricted free agent, but will likely have to sign a new deal to remain in Tampa since the price to retain him as a restricted free agent is over 2 million dollars.
Two snappers were exclusive rights free agents, meaning the team could retain their rights for another season by offering them a one-year contract. Both snappers, Scott Daly (Lions) and Nick Moore (Ravens), were tendered a one-year deal and should be back with their clubs this season.
In addition to the snappers that could be on the move, there will be 10 new special teams coaches in 2022, a few more than the usual coaching carousel that impacts this position every year.
Below are the new special teams coaches for 2022:
BUFFALO Matt Smiley
CAROLINA Chris Tabor
CHICAGO Richard Hightower
DENVER Dwayne Stukes
GREEN BAY Rich Bisaccia
JACKSONVILLE Heath Farwell
RAMS Tom McMahon
CHARGERS Ryan Ficken
MINNESOTA Matt Daniels
SAN FRANCISCO Brian Schneider
The USFL is back and will offer long snappers a new opportunity to showcase their skills for one of the eight teams. The regular season starts next month and the League conducted a 35 round Draft with four snappers drafted in the final round and a Supplemental Draft the other day in which three other snappers were taken. Only the Birmingham Stallions do not currently have a pure long snapper on the roster.
Below are the teams and current long snappers:
Michigan Panthers: Shane Griffin (Supplemental Draft, Round 10)
New Jersey Generals: Scott Flanick (Regular Draft, Round 35)
Philadelphia Stars: Ryan Navarro (Regular Draft, Round 35)
Pittsburgh Maulers: Mitchell Fraboni (Regular Draft, Round 35)
Birmingham Stallions: TBD
Houston Gamblers: Tucker Addington (Supplemental Draft, Round 6)
New Orleans Breakers: Turner Bernard (Supplemental Draft, Round 7)
Tampa Bay Bandits: Ryan DiSalvo (Regular Draft, Round 35)
Congratulations to Matt Orzech and practice squad snapper Carson Tinker of the Rams who both won a Super Bowl ring yesterday. Tinker spent the last few weeks on and off the Rams practice squad in case of emergency, but was back on the practice squad for yesterday’s game.
With the NFL season now concluded, attention will turn to veteran free agency and the NFL Draft. Just one snapper, Cal Adomitis (Pitt), was invited to the NFL Combine, but many other snappers will participate in Pro Days during the month of March to workout for NFL scouts.
Veteran free agency starts mid-March with many teams impacted. Exclusive free agents are property of their existing team if they sign a new contract and restricted free agents have limited ability to move provided they are offered at least a one-year deal. Finally, any unrestricted snapper is free to sign elsewhere if not signed before the start of free agency.
One potential unrestricted free agent, JJ Jansen, just signed a one-year deal with the Panthers and will compete again with Thomas Fletcher next season. Below are the snappers and various categories of free agency they fall within. Longsnap.com will be tracking all the transactions as they happen over the coming weeks.
EXCLUSIVE (2): Scott Daly (Lions), Nick Moore (Ravens)
RESTRICTED (1): Zach Triner (Bucs)
UNRESTRICTED (9): Aaron Brewer (Cardinals), Morgan Cox (Titans), Clark Harris (Bengals), Josh Harris (Falcons), Casey Kreiter (Giants), Jake McQuaide (Cowboys), Matt Overton (Chargers), Patrick Scales (Bears) and Jon Weeks (Texans)
The Shrine Bowl originally selected one snapper, Billy Taylor from Rutgers, for its showcase game for NFL scouts. However, the Shrine just added another snapper, Ross Reiter from Colorado State, who practiced this week and will snap in the game this weekend.
Last month, the Rubio Award for the best high school long snapper was presented to Logan Rager from New Jersey. Rager beat out two other finalists, Kurt Chesney and Osher Ehrlich. I am honored to be on the selection committee for the Award and past winners include current NFL snappers Thomas Fletcher, Blake Ferguson and Scott Daly.
The Bengals will face the Rams in the Super Bowl in two weeks and the game will include veteran snapper Clark Harris for the Bengals and Matt Orzech for the Rams. However, it is likely Carson Tinker will be on the Rams practice squad once again and just in case of emergency.
Tinker is near the end of an unusual season for a long snapper. After spending training camp with the Giants, Tinker spent about half of the season filling in for an injured Zach Triner in Tampa Bay before spending one game with the Raiders. The Rams have since signed Tinker at least five times to its practice squad before releasing him and brining him back just in case Orzech cannot snap.
James Winchester of the Chiefs had an assisted tackle yesterday, the only tackle recorded by a snapper since Wild Card weekend.
The Steelers, who made the only future signing of a snapper when they added Rex Sunahara, also signed Christian Kuntz to a one-year deal. Kuntz would have been a free agent had the Steelers not re-signed him by March.
Stay tuned for all of the special teams coaching changes in the NFL, as there will be the typical annual movement as new coaching staffs are finalized. At least one change has already happened as the Bears lost special teams coach Chris Tabor to the Panthers.
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