Johnny Den Bleyker, a high school senior long snapper from California, won the Chris Rubio Long Snapper of the Year Award as the best high school snapper. Den Bleyker received the award last night at a ceremony in Las Vegas and will attend UCLA next year.
The NFL regular season is now complete. A very steady year to start at the snapping position was disrupted during the final few weeks. Starting in Week Thirteen, a snapping changes due to performance with the Bears was followed by changes due to injury with the Giants twice, Raiders and Packers.
Jon Weeks of the Texans won the tackles title in punt coverage among all snappers, finishing with 8 tackles, 6 of which were solo stops. Carson Tinker of the Jaguars and Beau Brinkley of the Titans each had 6 total tackles.
For those who wanted more drama with the extra point, the distance change did have an impact, as kickers were only successful on 94.1% of extra points this season.
One snapper, Dax Dellenbach, had a workout this past week the Titans and there may be one or two snappers that are signed to a futures contract for next season during the coming weeks.
Just two snappers recorded tackles during the final week of the regular season, with Brinkley adding a solo tackle and Clark Harris of the Bengals tallying an assisted tackle.
The final NFL Long Snappers Chart for the 2015 NFL Season is below.
Recently, the three finalists for the Chris Rubio Long Snapper of the Year Award were announced. One winner will be selected in Las Vegas on January 15, 2016.
This year, the three finalists are Johnny Den Bleyker (Class of 2016), Ben Wyatt (Class of 2016) and Thomas Fletcher (2017). Once again, I am on the panel to select the winner and have just submitted my rankings.
Prior recipients of the award and the colleges they currently attend are: Scott Daly (2011-Notre Dame), Cole Mazza (2012-Alabama) and Blake Ferguson (2013 and 2014-LSU),.
It looks like there will be one final regular season change at the snapping position, as the Giants signed Tyler Ott yesterday to replace Danny Aiken. Aiken suffered a reported thumb injury and was placed on injured reserve.
Aiken snapped the last three games for the Giants, replacing Zak DeOssie. This is the fourth consecutive week in which a veteran snapper was injured and placed on injured reserve.
Week Sixteen featured the second rookie snapper this season, as Rick Lovato had a smooth debut with the Packers. Lovato replaced injured Brett Goode and joins Joe Cardona of the Patriots as the only snappers to snap in a regular season game from the 2015 Draft class. Goode was the third consecutive veteran snapper to go on injured reserve the past three weeks, joining Jon Condo (Raiders) and Zak DeOssie (Giants).
Lovato’s signing also generated some significant media attention since, like most snappers not snapping in the NFL, he had to work another job while waiting for his next chance. For Lovato, that was a sub shop in New Jersey when he got the call from the Packers.
The only snapper to have a workout this past week was rookie Andrew East, who worked out for the Packers after Lovato was signed.
Four snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week, with Clark Harris (Bengals), Jon Weeks (Texans), Andrew DePaola (Buccaneers) and Clint Gresham (Seahawks) each tallying solo tackles. With one week remaining, it appears Jon Weeks may win the tackle title among snappers, as Weeks has eight total tackles and leads Carson Tinker of the Jaguars, who has six.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Sixteen is below.
Week Sixteen NFL Long Snappers Chart
Week Sixteen of the NFL will bring a fourth change at the snapping position. Client Brett Goode of the Packers tore his ACL in Sunday’s win against the Raiders and will miss the remainder of the season. The Packers quickly added rookie Rick Lovato, who was in training camp with the Bears and coincidentally worked out with the Packers late last week.
The injury will break Goode’s 137 consecutive game streak as he has handled every snap for the Packers since the 2008 season.
Just two weeks remain in the NFL’s regular season. In Week Fifteen, Thomas Gafford debuted as a Raider, marking the third snapping change in the last three weeks. Two snappers from this year’s Draft class, Rick Lovato and Sam Rodgers, had tryouts with the Packers this week.
Four snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage. with Clark Harris (Bengals) recording two solo tackles and Matt Overton (Colts), Garrison Sanborn (Bills) and Kyle Nelson (49ers) each tallying solo stops.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fifteen is below.
Week Fifteen NFL Long Snappers Chart
A recent ESPN.com story on punter Sam Koch of the Ravens brought to light how Koch has, somewhat anonymously, changed punting in the NFL. Kevin Seifert wrote an extensive profile, including pictures, describing how Koch began experimenting last year with various strategies to execute unpredictable punts.
Koch has developed approximately 10 distinct punts he can execute, such as the hook, liner and knuckler, as needed. It is rare to see much change in the way special teams play is conducted in the NFL but Koch has apparently achieved it with respect to punting and done so quietly…until now.
With Jon Condo out for the season, the Raiders quickly added veteran snapper Thomas Gafford. Gafford, who began the season with the Bears before being replaced by Patrick Scales after Week Twelve, spent most of his NFL career with the Chiefs.
After a regular season with no changes at the snapping position, there have now been three changes since Week Twelve.
Week Fourteen brought another change at the snapping position, as Danny Aiken debuted for the Giants last night, replacing injured Zak DeOssie. Two snappers recovered fumbled punts this weekend, as Mike Windt of the Chargers and Jon Condo of the Raiders each had recoveries.
Condo’s recovery was notable because he injured his shoulder on the play. While Condo received treatment, and with the team’s emergency snapper still recovering from his own injury, the Raiders went for a two point conversion instead of an extra point attempt. Condo later returned to snap the remainder of the game. However, reports from last night indicated his season may be over and that the Raiders may add a veteran snapper.
Multiple snappers had tackles yesterday, with Nick Sundberg (Redskins), Kyle Nelson (49ers), Charley Hughlett (Browns), Carson Tinker (Jaguars), Windt, Garrison Sanborn (Bills) and Jon Dorenbos (Eagles) all tallying solo tackles.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fourteen is below.
