Veteran snapper Patrick Mannelly appears likely to return to Chicago next season according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. Mannelly, who is 38 and an unrestricted free agent, holds the record for most games played by a Bear with 245 over his 16 NFL seasons. Those 245 games are third highest among all NFL long snappers, behind Trey Junkin who snapped in 281 games and David Binn who snapped in 256.
Client and veteran NFL long snapper Justin Snow has recently started his own camps and training programs for long snappers. Snow, who spent 13 years with the Colts and Redskins, has developed a variety of camps and training program packages for aspiring long snappers at all levels of football.
Among the upcoming featured events is a camp at the Colts Training Facility on Sunday, March 16th that will include Snow and other NFL specialists.
More information is available at Snow’s website at www.prolongsnapper.com or by emailing Justin at Justin@prolongsnapper.com.
News broke yesterday that the NFL and its Competition Committee will consider the elimination of the extra point after touchdowns. Among the factors leading to the potential change is the fact that point after attempts have become almost automatic, with only five missed extra points this season and a 99.1 percent success rate since 2004.
The rule change is an obvious concern for snappers, who are typically on the field for between eight and ten plays a game. Eliminating extra points would further reduce their game participation and value.
The Super Bowl teams are now set and will feature client Clint Gresham, who will snap for the Seahawks, and Aaron Brewer, who will handle the snaps for the Broncos on February 2nd.
During the playoffs, just two snappers recorded tackles, with client Brett Goode (Packers) tallying a solo tackle in the Wild Card game and Matt Overton (Colts) adding two assisted tackles in the Divisional round game.
Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News recently revealed his special teams rankings for the 2013 NFL season. Gosselin has been ranking this component of football for over 30 years and determines his special teams unit rankings based on 22 different aspects of special teams play.
For 2013, the Patriots had the top unit, follower by the 49ers, Chiefs, Cowboys and Ravens to round out the top five. The bottom five teams were the Giants, Broncos, Saints, Bills and the Redskins finished last.
Blake Ferguson, a high school junior and LSU recruit, took him the 2013 Herbalife 24 Chris Rubio Award last night in Vegas as the top high school long snapper. Ferguson prevailed over two senior snappers, Alan Lucy and Tanner Carew.
The long snappers were selected today for the Pro Bowl teams, as Matt Overton of the Colts will snap for the AFC, while JJ Jansen of the Panthers for the NFC squad. This is the first Pro Bowl appearance for each snapper
Jon Dorenbos of the Eagles was also honored as the snapper for the USA Football All-Fundamentals team that recognizes players with proper technique. Dorenbos will receive a $1,500 equipment grant to donate to a youth or high school football program of his choice.
One of the big steps in the NFL Draft process is college all-star games and some long snappers will have a chance to impress scouts this month. The Senior Bowl snappers are Marcus Heit (Kansas State) and Tyler Ott (Harvard), while Trevor Gillette (Rice) and Chris Maikranz (Lamar) will handle the snaps in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
Heit will also handle the snaps in this weekend’s Medal of Honor bowl, along with Tanner Hedstrom (Colorado State). Another all-star game, the East-West Shrine Game, will not use dedicated snappers.
Although it is very rare for a snapper to change teams during veteran free agency, a handful have earned the right to obtain offers from other teams when free agency commences in March.
Five snappers are unrestricted free agents and can sign anywhere if not re-signed by their clubs. Patrick Mannelly (Bears), Don Muhlbach (Lions), Thomas Gafford (Chiefs), Greg Warren (Steelers) and Andrew Economos (Bucs) will all be unrestricted free agents for the 2014 season. Just one snapper, Danny Aiken (Patriots), is a restricted free agent. Restricted free agency means the Patriots can offer Aiken a one year deal that gives them the right to match any offers he may be given from another club.
A few teams have already signed snappers for next year to reserve/future contracts including Brandon Hartson (Bears), client Patrick Scales (Bucs) and Bryce Davis (Steelers). There may be another snapper or two added by clubs over the coming weeks.
Longsnap.com has been compiling tackles by long snappers in punt coverage since 2000, when the site was launched. Although not necessarily the best indicator of a snapper’s ability, the recording of tackles in one of the few objective statistics for a snapper.
The NFL Long Snappers page has been updated to include the punt tackle statistic leaders for each season from 2000 to the present and can be found here:
