Week Eighteen in Review

The NFL regular season is now complete. Six teams (Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, Minnesota, New England and Tampa Bay) used multiple snappers at some point during the season. Miami used five to lead all clubs.

According to Longsnap.com’s unofficial tracking, 17 teams had snapper tryouts since the beginning of August and worked out a total of 32 snappers, although many snappers had multiple workouts.

Andrew DePaola (Minnesota) and Ross Matiscik (Jaguars) will be the Pro Bowl long snappers with first team alternates of Mitchell Fraboni (Denver) and Tyler Ott (Commanders).

There were four snappers with a total of five tackles to lead all snappers. The four leading tacklers are Scott Daly (Chicago), Mitchell Fraboni (Denver), Hogan Hatten (Detroit) and Casey Krieter (Giants).

The final NFL Long Snappers Chart is below.

Posted in NFL, Tackles, Transactions | Comments Off on Week Eighteen in Review

Week Seventeen in Review

Week Seventeen of the NFL season is complete and the snapping position remains stable. Jake McQuaide has taken over the snapping duties in Miami since last week and is the fifth snapper the team has used this year.

Four snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week, as Christian Kuntz (Steelers) recorded a solo tackle, while James Winchester (Chiefs) tallied two assisted tackles. Josh Harris (Chargers) and Reid Ferguson (Bills) each had assisted tackles.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Seventeen is below.

Posted in NFL, Tackles, Transactions | Comments Off on Week Seventeen in Review

Sneak Peak at Veteran Free Agency for Long Snappers

With the NFL regular season winding down, it is a good time to take a sneak peak at veteran free agency that begins in March. At this point, as many as 15 snappers may be in some form of free agency.

A restricted free agent must be offered a one-year deal at a substantial annual salary for a long snapper for the right to match any offers. That deal value is not known yet, but will likely be over 3M for 2025. Because of this, the three restricted free agents below are likely to sign new contracts if their existing team wants to retain them but prior to the start of free agency.

The remaining 12 snappers below are unrestricted free agents and free to sign with anyone in mid-March if not re-signed by their existing clubs.

Here are the various snappers and free agency status as of today.

RESTRICTED (3): Adomitis (CIN); Fraboni (DEN); and McCullough (ATL)

UNRESTRICTED (12): Brewer (ARI); Cox (TEN); Daly (CHI); Ferguson (BUF); Jansen (CAR); Kreiter (NYG); Lovato (PHI); McQuaide (MIA); Scales (CHI); Sieg (DAL); Weeks (HOU) and Winchester (KC)

Posted in NFL, Transactions | Comments Off on Sneak Peak at Veteran Free Agency for Long Snappers

Week Sixteen in Review

Week Sixteen was a quiet one for snappers. There were no major issues and three snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage.

Hogan Hatten (Lions) and Scott Daly (Bears) added solo tackles, while Casey Kreiter (Giants) recorded an assist.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Sixteen is below.

Posted in NFL, Tackles | Comments Off on Week Sixteen in Review

Stats Perform FCA All-America and Freshman Teams

The 2024 Stats Perform FCS All-America and Freshman teams were just announced and snappers are included on all teams.

The First Team All-America snapper was Caden Bolt of Missouri State, while Second Team was Jovoni Borbon of McNeese and Third Team was Sam Merryman of Youngstown State. All three snappers are seniors. The Freshman Team snapper was Tunner McLaughlin from Tennessee Tech.

Posted in College | Comments Off on Stats Perform FCA All-America and Freshman Teams

Week Fifteen in Review

Week Fifteen of the NFL season is complete and the rotation of snappers in Miami will continue. Although Zach Triner snapped this week, he was waived and Jake McQuaide signed after a tryout yesterday. Based on these moves, it does not appear that Blake Ferguson will return this year. In other moves, Tucker Addington was waived from the Jaguars practice squad.

Titans snapper Morgan Cox is a finalist for the Bart Starr Award given to the NFL player that demonstrates character, integrity and leadership, both on and off the field.

While Andrew DePaola continues to be one of the vote leaders at long snapper for the Pro Bowl, Steelers snapper Christian Kurtz is now the other voting leader.

The AFC FBS Coaches’ All-America Teams include long snappers and Luke Elgin of Iowa was First Team and Florida’s Rocco Underwood, who won the Patrick Mannelly Award this past weekend, was Second Team.

Two snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week, with Mitchell Fraboni (Broncos) recording a solo tackle and Rex Sunahara (Browns) an assisted tackle.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fifteen is below.

Posted in Patrick Mannelly Award, Tackles, Transactions | Comments Off on Week Fifteen in Review

Underwood Wins 6th Annual Patrick Mannelly Award

Last night, Florida snapper Rocco Underwood won the 6th annual Patrick Mannelly Award given to the best FBS snapper.

The two other finalists were Beau Gardner (Georgia) and Will Wagner (Michigan).

The entire Award ceremony can be viewed here:

Posted in Patrick Mannelly Award | Comments Off on Underwood Wins 6th Annual Patrick Mannelly Award

Week Fourteen in Review

Week Fourteen of the NFL season is complete and saw the return from injury of Andrew DePaola with the Vikings. Jake McQuaide, who snapped from Weeks 10 to 12 for Minnesota, was waived.

Another snapper, Blake Ferguson of the Dolphins, may be close to return as well. Ferguson was removed from injured reserve although Zach Triner handled the snaps Sunday.

The Jaguars added Tucker Addington to its practice squad due to an injury to Ross Matiscik but Matiscik was able to snap Sunday.

Pro Bowl voting is underway and the snappers with the most votes are James Winchester (Chiefs) and DePaola.

There were no tackles by any snapper in punt coverage this week which is a very rare circumstance.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fourteen is below.

Posted in Tackles, Transactions | Comments Off on Week Fourteen in Review

Week Thirteen in Review

Week Thirteen was a relatively uneventful one for snappers. The Dolphins added veteran Zach Triner, who was just waived by the Buccaneers, to fill in for Blake Ferguson. Tucker Addington previously served in that role and was elevated from the practice squad a maximum three times. Matt Overton also snapped three games for Miami prior to Addington.

Two snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week, with Ross Matiscik (Jaguars) and Luke Rhodes (Colts) both adding solo stops.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Thirteen is below.

Posted in NFL, Tackles, Transactions | Comments Off on Week Thirteen in Review

Week Twelve in Review

Week Twelve of the NFL season is complete and the snapping position remains stable. There was a rare bad short snap from Tyler Ott of the Commanders in a wild finish versus the Cowboys.

On the workout front, Peter Bowden had a tryout with the Broncos and veteran Zach Triner worked out for the Dolphins yesterday before being signed. Triner will replace Tucker Addington, with Blake Ferguson remaining on injured reserve.

A few times a year, attention is paid to a team’s emergency long snapper that must be ready if the starter goes down. That could become an issue in Detroit if Hogan Hatten were injured. Both of the Lions emergency snappers, Aidan Hutchinson and Alex Anzalone, are injured so reserve tight end Shane Zylstra is next man up.

Voting is now open for the Pro Bowl and you can vote for your favorite long snapper here: https://www.nfl.com/pro-bowl-games/vote/special-teams/ls/. Two snappers will be selected based on fan voting, combined with voting from players and coaches. Voting is open until December 23, 2024.

Just two snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week, with Luke Rhodes of the Colts recording a solo tackle and Morgan Cox of the Titans adding an assist.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Twelve is below.

Posted in NFL, Tackles, Transactions | Comments Off on Week Twelve in Review