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NFL Special Teams Coaches In Place

Posted on February 11, 2013 by longsnap

With the story breaking today that the Redskins have hired Keith Burns as their new special teams coach, it looks like the coaching carousel at the position has stopped. Half of the jobs have turned over after the season for a total of 16 new special teams coaches. Many of the coaches have simply moved to new clubs.

Below is a list of the special teams coaches for each team.

Arizona Cardinals Amos Jones

Atlanta Faclons Keith Armstrong

Baltimore Ravens Jerry Rosburg

Buffalo Bills Danny Crossman

Carolina Panthers Richard Rogers

Chicago Bears Joe DeCamillas

Cincinnati Bengals Darrin Simmons

Cleveland Browns Chris Tabor

Dallas Cowboys Richard Bisaccia

Denver Broncos Jeff Rodgers

Detroit Lions John Bonamego

Green Bay Packers Shawn Slocum

Houston Texans Joe Maricano

Indianapolis Colts Tom McMahon

Jacksonville Jaguars Mike Malloy

Kansas City Chiefs Dave Toub

Miami Dolphins Darren Rizzi

Minnesota Vikings Mike Priefer

New England Patriots Scott O’Brien

New Orleans Saints Greg McMahon

New York Giants Tom Quinn

New York Jets Ben Kotwica

Oakland Raiders Bobby April

Philadelphia Eagles Dave Fipp

Pittsburgh Steelers Danny Smith

San Diego Chargers Kevin Spencer

San Francisco 49ers Brad Seely

Seattle Seahawks Brian Schneider

St. Louis Rams John Fassel

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Dave Wannstedt

Tennessee Titans Nate Kazcor

Washington Redskins Keith Burns

Posted in Coaching, NFL | Leave a comment

Ingram to Snap at NFL Scouting Combine

Posted on February 10, 2013 by longsnap

Luke Ingram from Hawaii will be the lone long snapper at the NFL Scouting Combine at the end of this month. Ingram also snapped in the top college all-star game, the Senior Bowl, last month matching his brother Jake’s similar post-season accomplishments in 2009.

The Scouting Combine began inviting long snapping specialists in 2006 and invited multiple snappers through 2009. Since then, just one snapper has been invited to Indianapolis each year (Clint Gresham, Danny Aiken and Josh Harris), although each invitee is an active NFL long snapper.

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Ravens Wins the Super Bowl

Posted on February 4, 2013 by longsnap

The NFL season ended last night with the Ravens winning the Super Bowl. Morgan Cox, the Ravens third year snapper, will earn a ring for his efforts. During the playoffs, just two snappers recorded tackles, as Clark Harris of the Bengals had a solo tackle, while Clint Gresham of the Seahawks added an assist. Both tackles occurred during the wild card weekend.

With the season now complete, attention will turn to the Combine and free agency. In addition, as the critical off-season period begins, at least half of the NFL special teams coaching positions will be different. Although it is very common for special teams coaches to move to different positions after each year, the changes for the 2013 season appear to be unprecedented.

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Super Bowl Snappers in the Spotlight

Posted on January 31, 2013 by longsnap

The Super Bowl is one of the rare times when snappers get significant national media attention. Largely due to the unique role they play in football, snappers tend to get more focus than usual. This year is no exception, as snappers Brian Jennings of the 49ers and Morgan Cox of the Ravens have been featured in numerous national media stories describing and explaining their critical, but often overlooked, role in the NFL.

An interesting note for this weekend’s contest in New Orleans is that four Super Bowls have been decided by last-minute kicks, including the last one held in New Orleans involving the Patriots and Rams.

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NFL Snapping News

Posted on January 20, 2013 by longsnap

With the Super Bowl teams to be determined today, there has been significant snapping news off the field since the end of the regular season. As usual, the off-season brings many coaching changes and the special teams coaching position is not immune.

In addition to the changes that have already taken place in Buffalo, Chicago and Kansas City, some other new coaches that have been named include Tom McMahon (Indianapolis), Nate Kaczor (Tennessee), John Bonamego (Detroit), Bobby April (Oakland) and Kevin Spencer (San Diego).

Pittsburgh snapper Greg Warren was named to the USA Football All-Fundamentals Team based on his fundamentals and techniques that provide examples for younger football players. Warren will receive a $1,500 grant to donate to the youth football program of his choice.

The folks at Football Outsiders do an excellent job of developing creative statistical analysis of all aspects of football, including special teams. The rankings of all 32 special teams units during the regular season, based on such things as field goals/extra points, kickoffs, kick returns, punts and punt returns, are complete. The top five clubs were Baltimore, Cleveland, Seattle, New England and Minnesota. The lowest ranked team was Houston, with Oakland, Detroit, Carolina and Tampa Bay rounded out the bottom.

The Wall Street Journal recently did a feature story on how NFL teams spend their money that included detailed breakdowns of team spending, including money allocated to special teams. The Raiders spent the most on its special teams unit, followed by Tampa Bay, Miami, San Francisco and Tennessee. The Jets spent the least, with St. Louis, Dallas, Houston and Carolina the next highest.

ESPNW.com recently did a feature story on Colts snapper Matt Overton and his inspirational path to the NFL. Overton’s journey began in 2007 after college and involved many ups and downs in different leagues and tryouts until he finally made the roster in Indianapolis this season.

Finally, some future NFL snappers are likely on the rosters of the various college all-star games and a new name to watch is Kevin McDermott of UCLA. McDermott was one of the snappers in the Casino Del Sol game but was accidentally left off my prior post listing the snappers in the various games.

Posted in Coaching, College, High School, NFL, NFL Draft, Snapping in the Media, Tackles, Transactions | Leave a comment

The Future is Now for Some Snappers and ST Coaches

Posted on January 16, 2013 by longsnap

Although the 2012 NFL season is still continuing with the final four teams this weekend, some teams have already signed players to what are known as future contracts for next season. In addition, as a result of some firings, there will be many new special teams coaches next season.

Four teams have already added snappers for 2013 rosters, including the Jets (Travis Tripucka), Bucs (Andrew DiPaola), Bengals (Bryce Davis) and Cowboys (Charley Hughlett).

Some special teams coaches who have found new homes already include Danny Crossman (Bills), Dave Toub (Chiefs) and Joe DeCamillas (Bears).

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Pro Bowl Long Snappers Announced

Posted on January 15, 2013 by longsnap

The snappers for the AFC and NFC Pro Bowl teams were announced today. John Denney of the Dolphins will snap for the AFC and was selected by the coaching staff of the Broncos. Denney entered the NFL in 2005 and was previously the AFC Pro Bowl snapper in 2010. Don Muhlbach of the Lions earned his first Pro Bowl appearance after being selected by the Packers staff. Muhlbach joined the NFL in 2004. The Pro Bowl will be played on January 27th in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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College All-Star Game Snappers

Posted on January 14, 2013 by longsnap

With the college bowl season over, some of the best college snappers are participating in college all-stars games for additional exposure to NFL teams.

The premier game, the Senior Bowl on January 26th, will feature Carson Tinker (Alabama) and Luke Ingram (Hawaii). Ingram will also snap in the Texas vs. The Nation game on February 2nd. On January 19th, there are two games, with Dax Dellenbach (Florida State) snapping in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic, while Evan Jacobsen (New Mexico) and Jordan Cowart (Notre Dame) will handle the snaps in the NFLPA All-Star Game. One game, the Casino Del Sol College All-Star Game, is already in the books and featured Brandon Hartson (Houston).

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The Heart of a Long Snapper

Posted on January 8, 2013 by longsnap

I was just made aware of an inspirational video that reminded me of the type of person that I frequently encounter in the long snapping world. Most snappers have unbelievable amounts of determination, heart and passion for their craft.

To capture those traits, below is a video from former college long snapper and current snapping instructor Nolan Owen. Over the course of a year, Owen helped a community college student, Nick Adams, who never played in high school, to achieve his dream of snapping at the Division One level. Enjoy!

Posted in College, Snapping in the Media | Leave a comment

NFL Long Snapper Charts

Posted on January 2, 2013 by longsnap

The “NFL Long Snappers” page of Longsnap.com has been updated to include not only this year’s final NFL Long Snappers Chart, but also the final Long Snapper Charts from the 2010 and 2011 NFL Seasons.

You can access the page below or by clicking on the “NFL Long Snappers” tab on the top of Longsnap.com

NFL Long Snappers Charts

Posted in NFL, Tackles | Leave a comment