The end of the NFL season always brings changes at the special teams coaching position. This off-season has been typical, with seven changes to date.
Below are the new special teams coaches for each NFL club. Two coaches from the 2023 season, Thomas McGaughey (Giants) and Larry Izzo (Seahawks), ended up getting the same job but in new cities.
CAROLINA: Tracy Smith
NEW ENGLAND: Jeremy Springer
GIANTS: Michael Ghobrial
SEATTLE: Jay Harbaugh
TAMPA BAY: Thomas McGaughey
TENNESSEE: Colt Anderson
WASHINGTON: Larry Izzo
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The NFL season concluded Sunday night with Kansas City’s thrilling overtime victory over San Francisco. Congratulations to long snapper James Winchester of the Chiefs who won his third Super Bowl ring and second in a row. No snapper recorded a tackle in punt coverage during the entire playoff run.
Focus will now turn to veteran free agency and the NFL Draft. So far, Patrick Mannelly Award winner Joe Shimko of NC State is the only snapper invited to the NFL Combine at the end of this month.
This year features a high number of veteran free agent snappers, although many are expected to re-sign with their existing teams.
Exclusive free agents have their rights owned exclusively by their existing team and both Cal Adomitis (Bengals) and client Liam McCullough (Falcons) are expected to return. A restricted free agent must be offered a one-year deal at a substantial annual salary for a long snapper, so expect the Lions to do a new deal with Scott Daly if they want him back.
The remaining snappers are unrestricted and thus free to sign with anyone in mid-March if not re-signed by their existing clubs. The Texans have already brought back veteran Jon Weeks, bringing down to the number of unrestricted snappers to 12.
Here are the various free agent snappers and their free agent status.
EXCLUSIVE (2): Adomitis (CIN) and McCullough (ATL)
With the Super Bowl matchup set and snappers James Winchester (Chiefs) and Taybor Pepper (Niners) ready to compete Sunday, there have been some recent snapping developments.
The Bucs signed Evan Deckers to a reserve/future contact, joining Cam Lyons who previously signed with the Bears. Incumbent snappers in Tampa, Zach Triner, and Chicago, client Patrick Scales, are both scheduled to be free agents. Longsnap.com will profile all the pending free agent snappers right after the Super Bowl.
One team has already signed a potential veteran free agent, as the Texans have re-signed Jon Weeks, the longest-tenured Texan for his 15th season.
The Pro Bowl events were held this weekend and included snappers Andrew DePaola and Ross Matiscik who competed in a snap shot skills challenge with four centers. The NFC and AFC teams took turns snapping balls at targets 13 yards away. The targets were of various sizes and point values in a 45-second accuracy contest. Every fifth ball was painted gold, making it worth double points. DePaola won the event.
There will be number of new special teams coaches this season in the NFL, as Michael Ghobrial (Giants) and Jeremy Springer (Patriots) are just two of the new coaches to date.
There was one snapping vacancy in the new UFL in St. Louis that has been filled by Alex Matheson.
With respect to Draft-eligible long snappers, Steele Judy of the Citadel was added to the East-West Shrine Game roster. The FCS Bowl included snapping specialists Justin Peterson (VMI) and Jason Hovis (Juanita College). It is unclear if a long snapper will be invited to the NFL Combine later this month.
The NFC and AFC Championship games are set for next Sunday. In advance of those two games, below is a summary of recent developments involving pro snappers.
AWARDS: Ross Matiscik of the Jaguars was chosen as the First Team AP NFL All-Pro with Andrew DePaola of the Vikings as the Second Team snapper. Matiscik was also voted by NFL players to the NFLPA Players’ All-Pro Team.
RESERVE/FUTURE CONTRACT: So far, just one free agent snapper, Cameron Lyons, has signed a contract for next season. Lyons signed with the Bears for 2024 and was previously in camp with the Giants last season.
UFL: Spring football returns this March and the USFL and XFL have combined to form the eight team UFL. To fill rosters, the new league had two drafts and is now signing free agents. Below are the snappers for each team, with only St. Louis having a vacancy as of now:
College all-star game season is underway and gives snappers from this year’s Draft class additional opportunities to impress NFL scouts.
Below are the snappers for each game. The Hula Bowl was played Saturday. Next up is the Tropical Bowl on January 20th, followed by the East-West Shine on February 1st and the Senior Bowl on February 3rd.
HULA: Peter Bowden (Wisconsin); Marco Ortiz (Nebraska); and Randen Plattner (Kansas State)
TROPICAL: Nick D’Ambra (Fresno State) and JP Hadley (North Texas)
EAST-WEST: Joe Shimko (NC State) and Marco Ortiz (Nebraska)
SENIOR: Peter Bowden (Wisconsin) and William Mote (Georgia)
Posted inCollege, NFL, NFL Draft|Comments Off on College All-Star Game Long Snappers
NFL writer Rick Gosselin’s annual evaluation of every NFL team’s special teams units is something I look forward to after every NFL regular season.
Gosselin ranks each team in 22 kicking-game categories and assigns points for the best to the worst, with the lower total number the better.
This season, the Texans special teams, led by Frank Ross, was the top unit for the second year in a row. Only two other coaches have ever coached the top unit two years in a row in the 38 years Gosselin has compiled his rankings.
The top five special teams units were (ranked 1-5):
Houston Texans
New Orleans Saints
New York Jets
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
The bottom five special teams units were (ranked 28-32):
The NFL regular season ended Sunday night and concluded an exciting season. Heading into the final week of the season, the Bears added Matt Overton to its practice squad in case client Patrick Scales could not snap due to a foot injury. However, Scales was able to snap Sunday. The Rams also released Alex Matheson from its practice squad prior to Week Eighteen.
Andrew DePaola (Vikings) and Ross Matiscik (Jaguars) are the Pro Bowl snappers this year. This will be DePaola’s second appearance and the first for Matiscik. Matiscik also had the most tackles by any snapper this year in punt coverage, totaling eight solo tackles, a forced fumble and fumble recovery.
Over the next few weeks, Longsnap.com will be reporting any long snapper signings for next season, special teams coaching changes, the impact of free agency on the snapping position, top prospects for the NFL Draft and other key matters impacting the snapping position.
Six snappers recorded tackles during the final week of the regular season. Tyler Ott (Ravens) had two solo stops, while DePaola (Vikings), Mitchell Fraboni (Broncos), and Tyler Addington (Commanders) each had a solo tackle. Client Liam McCullough (Falcons) and Rick Lovato (Eagles) added assisted tackles.
A very happy new year to all, as the NFL regular season is down to its final week.
In Week Seventeen, the Rams added Alex Matheson to the practice squad after his tryout last week. However, Carson Tinker handled all snaps Sunday.
Three snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage, with Rick Lovato (Eagles) adding a solo tackle, while Jon Weeks (Texans) and Mitchell Fraboni (Broncos) each recorded assisted tackles.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Seventeen is below.
Just two weeks remain in the NFL regular season and this week brought the third snapping change of the season.
The Commanders waived 2021 NFL Draft selection Camaron Cheeseman after a rough season. It is becoming increasingly rare for snappers to be replaced due to performance, as injury is typically the reasons that forces a change. The prior two changes of this season in Detroit and with the Rams were both injury-related.
Tucker Addington, who has prior game experience last season with the Patriots, was added to the Commanders practice squad and will be elevated each week to finish the season.
Two snappers had workouts for NFL teams, as the Giants brought in Cameron Lyons with some punters and the Rams had a tryout with Alex Matheson. Neither snapper was signed.
Pro Bowl voting ends soon and Reid Ferguson (Bills) leads all snappers in fan votes in the AFC while Taybor Pepper (Niners) is the top snapper on the NFC side.
Five snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week. Rick Lovato (Eagles) had a solo tackle and forced fumble. Zach Triner (Buccaneers) and Jacob Bobenmoyer (Raiders) also had solo stops, while Reid Ferguson (Bills) and Charley Hughlett (Browns) chipped in assisted tackles.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Sixteen is below.
In a recent post about senior snappers selected for college all-star games to date, I mentioned two upcoming showcases for snappers looking to play at the next level.
Dates have now been finalized for another excellent option for aspiring snappers with Kohl’s Professional Camps. For over 20 years, the Kohl’s camps have been an excellent options for all specialists and snappers in particular.
Kohl’s has two professional pro training camp options in January and February to help snappers get critical exposure and training. The camps are led by Casey Casper, a snapper I represented early in my NFL agent career. Links to both upcoming camps can be found here:
Longsnap.com 