NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and FCS All-American Snappers

Posted on December 21, 2016 by longsnap

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With the Senior Bowl long snappers now set, the other premiere college all-star game to use dedicated long snappers, the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, has selected its two snappers.  Brad Northnagel of California and Nolan Dowling of Western Kentucky will be the participating snappers.

In addition, the STATS FCS All-America Team was announced yesterday.  Importantly, the team always includes long snappers.  The first team snapper was Josh Appel (Indiana State).  James Fisher (North Dakota State) was on the second team, followed by Hunter Winstead (Liberty) on the third team.  Appel is a senior and a top prospect for the NFL Draft, while Fisher and Winstead are both juniors.

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Week Fifteen in Review

Posted on December 20, 2016 by longsnap

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Week Fifteen of the NFL season is complete and was a quiet one for snappers.  Rick Lovato debuted with the Eagles and Thomas Gafford will now finish the season with the Broncos, as client Casey Kreiter was placed on injured reserve.

Kreiter joins client Jimmy Landes (Lions) and Jon Dorenbos (Eagles) as the three long snappers on injured reserve.  Clark Harris of the Bengals was able to return to action this week after missing the past three weeks with a groin injury.

Garrison Sanborn (Bills) and Charley Hughlett (Browns) each recorded solo tackles this week in the same game.  With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Hughlett has five total tackles, one behind Zak DeOssie (Giants).

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fifteen is below.

NFL Long Snappers Chart Week Fifteen

 

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Pro Football Focus Pro Bowl Snappers

Posted on December 17, 2016 by longsnap

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Pro Football Focus continues to provide detailed analysis of every play and player in the NFL and the snapping position is no exception.  PFF has graded every snap and snapper this year and used those grades to select their own Pro Bowl long snappers.

For the AFC, Jon Weeks of the Texans was ranked the best, while JJ Jansen of the Panthers was best in the NFC.  Jon Dorenbos of the Eagles would have been the NFC choice, but his injury kept him off the list.

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Senior Bowl Snappers and Phil Steele All-Americans

Posted on December 16, 2016 by longsnap

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With the NFL regular season winding down, the focus will soon turn to the next crop of NFL snapping talent in the college ranks.  The Senior Bowl recently announced that the two snappers will be Cole Mazza (Alabama) and Colin Holba (Louisville).  The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl is expected to select two snappers for its game in the very near future.

Mazza was also honored as the First Team snapper on Phil Steele’s 2016 Postseason All-American Team.  Scott Daly of Notre Dame was the Second Team snapper, followed by Chase Dominguez (Utah) and Drew Williams (South Carolina).

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Ladouceur Called the NFL’s “Perfect Player”

Posted on December 15, 2016 by longsnap

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Les Carpenter just wrote an excellent profile of Cowboys veteran long snapper LP Ladouceur for The Guardian.  Carpenter describes him as “perfect for almost 12 seasons.”  The story reaffirms the usual refrain about snappers, which is you do not want to be recognized since that usually means something has gone horribly wrong.

The article includes a quote from Cowboys special teams coach Rich Bisaccia, who notes that a snapper must be like “a linebacker, but backward, be able to snap the ball backward like the quarterback throws.”

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The Leaping the Snapper Controversy Continues

Posted on December 14, 2016 by longsnap

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The Patriots successful leap over Ravens snapper Morgan Cox to block a field goal attempt Monday night has brought the controversial play back into focus.  Earlier this season, the Broncos and Seahawks successfully executed similar leaps to block kicks.

Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post examined how the Patriots studied film and perfected the play and includes some revealing comments from Redskins snapper Nick Sundberg about how he defends against it.

Kilgore’s story does an excellent job of presenting both sides of this issue which he called “one of the most exciting plays in football.”

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Week Fourteen in Review

Posted on December 13, 2016 by longsnap

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Week Fourteen was an active one for special teams and snappers in particular.  The Eagles rare use of three snappers warranted its own blog post.

Dorenbos Injury Brings Snapping Front and Center

Kickers continued to struggle with missed kicks and, last night, the Patriots executed another successful “leaping the snapper” play to block a Ravens field goal attempt.

With Jon Dorenbos now on injured reserve due to a wrist injury, the Eagles turned to Rick Lovato, who recently snapped for the Redskins when Nick Sundberg was injured.  Earlier in the week, Lovato, along with Zach Triner, Daniel Dillon and Kameron Canaday. all worked out for the Jets.

The latest leaping the snapper play caused former Bears snapper Pat Mannelly to write this post last night in which he offers tips to snappers on how to handle a potential leaper.

News also broke last night that another special teams coach would serve as head coach. Reports indicate that John Fassel may serve as interim head coach for the Rams after the firing of Jeff Fisher.  Already this season, special teams coaches Joe DeCamillas (Broncos) and Mike Priefer (Vikings) have served as head coach on a temporary basis.

Five snappers had tackles in punt coverage this week, with Carson Tinker (Jaguars), Thomas Gafford (Broncos), Josh Harris (Falcons) and LP Ladouceur (Cowboys) recording solo tackles and Zak DeOssie (Giants) chipping in with an assisted tackle.  DeOssie leads all snappers with three weeks left in the season with six total tackles.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fourteen is below.

NFL Long Snappers Chart Week Fourteen

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Dorenbos Injury Brings Snapping Front and Center

Posted on December 11, 2016 by longsnap

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Today’s Eagles game deserves a special blog post by itself.  Eagles snapper Jon Dorenbos, who was playing in his 162nd consecutive game, injured his wrist on a third quarter punt.  Unable to return, tight end Brent Celek is the backup snapper, but immediately had a poor short snap that prevented a field goal attempt.

Celek was injured shortly after his snap and forced the Eagles to do sideline auditions for a third snapper.  Among the candidates were Bryan Braman, Mychal Kendricks and Trey Burton.  Burton was chosen to snap on a field goal and, although the snap was a bit high, the kick was good.

Most teams have an emergency plan in place when the regular snapper goes down.  However, those emergency snappers do not get much work during the season and are often forced into difficult snapping situations very quickly.  Remarkably, the Eagles were able to deal with the loss of their primary snapper and emergency snapper.

 

 

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Week Thirteen in Review

Posted on December 6, 2016 by longsnap

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Week Thirteen was a fairly uneventful one for snappers.  Nick Sundberg returned to action for the Redskins after missing two weeks with a back injury.  Rick Lovato, who replaced Sundberg, was waived.

Tyler Ott and Thomas Gafford each snapped a second week for the Bengals and Broncos respectively, as Clark Harris and Casey Kreiter continue to recover from injuries.

Vikings special teams coach Mike Priefer served as head coach on Thursday as Mike Zimmer was recovering from eye surgery.  Earlier this year, Broncos special teams coach Joe DeCamillis also served as head coach for a game.

Four snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week, with LP Ladouceur (Cowboys), Kyle Nelson (49ers) and Joe Cardona (Patriots) tallying solo tackles and Carson Tinker (Jaguars) adding an assisted tackle.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Thirteen is below.

NFL Long Snappers Chart Week Thirteeen

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Week Twelve in Review

Posted on November 29, 2016 by longsnap

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After a relatively steady start to the NFL season at the snapping position, things have started to change and change quickly.  Two experienced snappers played this week due to injuries to existing snappers.

Veteran snapper Thomas Gafford was signed by the Broncos to replace client Casey Kreiter who has a calf injury.  Tyler Ott was first added to the Bengals practice squad and later promoted to the active roster for Clark Harris as he recovers from a groin injury.  Rick Lovato of the Redskins snapped for the second straight week with Nick Sundberg still recovering from a back injury.  Kreiter, Harris and Sundberg are all expected back soon.

Before Ott was signed by the Bengals, he was chosen from a tryout group that also included John DePalma, Ryan DiSalvo and Gafford.  Jeff Overbaugh was also a participant at the Redskins tryout before Lovato was signed.

Four snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week.  Aaron Brewer (Cardinals) and Nolan Frese (Seahawks) had solo tackles, while Don Muhlbach (Lions) and Kyle Nelson (49ers) had assisted tackles.  Frese also had a forced fumble on his tackle and, in perhaps the most important plays of the week by a snapper, James Winchester of the Chiefs recovered a fumbled punt late in the victory against the Broncos.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Twelve is below.

NFL Long Snapper Chart Week Twelve

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