Week Seven is complete and, like prior weeks, the snapping position remains stable. Two teams did workout snappers recently, with the Patriots bringing in veteran Chris Massey and the Bengals doing the same with rookie Patrick Scales.
Three snappers, John Denney (Dolphins), Thomas Gafford (Chiefs) and Justin Snow (Colts), tallied solo tackles in punt coverage this week. The NFL Long Snappers Chart through Week Seven is below.
Week Six is complete and the snapping position remains stable. Zak DeOssie, who suffered a concussion last week, was able to snap for the Giants. If DeOssie was unable to play, reports indicated that Matt Katula would have been signed after the Giants worked him out along with another veteran, Chris Massey.
ESPN The Magazine recently profiled some off-the-radar NFL playmakers who normally do not get much time in the limelight. Among the players profiled was Patrick Mannelly of the Bears, who has appeared in more games than any other Bears player. Mannelly was included due to his importance to the Bears and the fact that he has had just one bad snap in 14 NFL seasons.
Brian Jennings of the 49ers was the only snapper to record a tackle this week, which was an assisted tackle. The NFL Long Snappers Chart through Week Six is below.
Thomas Neumann of ESPN’s Page Two just compiled his own ranking of the top ten NFL long snappers. In what he calls the “inaugural edition of Page 2’s Long Snapper Rankings“, Neumann unique rankings put Ryan Pontbriand of the Browns on top. Next were Patrick Mannelly (Bears), Cullen Loeffler (Vikings), Zak DeOssie (Giants), Lonie Paxton (Broncos), Don Muhlbach (Lions), Jon Dorenbos (Eagles), Mike Leach (Cardinals), Justin Snow (Colts) and free agent David Binn.
The article also had a nice plug for this blog, for which we thank Mr. Neumann for substantially increasing the recent daily traffic to the Longsnap.com blog.
Week Five is complete and saw the first significant injury at the snapping position when Zak DeOssie of the Giants suffered a concussion covering a punt. DeOssie could not finish the game and the Giants were forced to use an offensive lineman, Jim Cordle, to handle the remaining snaps in the second half. Cordle had just been activated from the practice squad.
Cordle earned the praise of Head Coach Tom Coughlin for the job he did replacing DeOssie, as the Giants witnessed the importance of having a capable backup snapper in the 2008 season when they beat the Steelers. Greg Warren of the Steelers had been injured, forcing the Steelers to use linebacker James Harrison for snaps. Harrison snapped the ball over the punter’s head which contributed to the loss to the Giants. Despite the injury, DeOssie still had a solo and assisted tackle, giving him five tackles on the season. Warren also added an assisted tackle for the Steelers in the game against the Titans.
Earlier this week, the Vikings extended the contract of snapper Cullen Loeffler, who has handled all of the Vikings snaps since the 2004 season. Loeffler is now under contract through the 2014 season.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart through Week Five is below.
When Longsnap.com begain in 2000, it was published in a traditional web site format. In April, 2009, Longsnap.com adopted a blog format. About a year ago, for technical reasons, I had to change the way the blog was hosted. Since that time, my Longsnap.com email was frequently inactive. I am pleased to report that the technical issues have finally been resolved and I can now be contacted by email at kevingold@longsnap.com.
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.
Below in pdf format is each Division One long snapper by conference and team as compiled exclusively by Longsnap.com In some cases where the snapping duties were split between two players, only the punt snapper is listed.
Special thanks to intern Rebecca Doctrow, who is currently earning a Master’s Degree in Sports Management at NYU, for her assistance with the Chart this year.
Week Four of the NFL season is in the books and the snapping position has remained stable. Five snappers recorded solo tackles this week, including Lonie Paxton (Broncos), Jeremy Cain (Jaguars), Zak DeOssie (Giants), Mike Windt (Chargers) and Nick Sundberg (Redskins). DeOssie leads all snappers with a total of three tackles this season.
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Four is below. Coming tomorrow, look for Longsnap.com’s exclusive compilation of all Division One long snappers.
Top long snapping coach Chris Rubio announced a new national award yesterday named in his honor to recognize the best national high school long snapper. The award will be known as the Chris Rubio Award and will be given annually. Herbalife 24 is the sponsor and this year’s award will be presented on December 17, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
Week Three in the NFL featured one of the best designed special teams plays that, in the end, did not count. In the Packers victory against the Bears, the Packers had punter Tim Masthay punt toward the left sideline. At the snap, Johnny Knox of the Bears ran down the left sideline, while dangerous returner Devin Hester went to the right sideline, along with eight teammates as blockers. The Packers return team all converged towards Hester, except for Masthay, even though the coverage team knew the play was designed as a punt to the opposite side.
Hester called a fake fair catch on the right sideline, while Knox fielded the punt on the opposite side, along with a sole blocker. Knox scored easily, but the Bears had a holding call on the return that negated the well-designed play.
Three snappers recorded tackles this week, including Don Muhlbach (Lions), Justin Snow (Colts) and Danny Aiken (Patriots). The updated NFL Long Snappers Chart is below.
Week Two is complete and, unlike last week, there were no punt or kick returns. There was the first snapping change of the regular season, at least temporarily. In the beginning of the week, the Bucs waived rookie snapper Christian Yount and replaced him with another rookie, Scott Albritton. The move proved to be a short one, as the Bucs then waived Albritton and brought Yount back later in the week.
A few months ago, it appeared the UFL was not going to happen this season. However, the season did start with four teams, including snappers Rigo Morales (Las Vegas Locomotives), Matt Overton (Omaha Nighthawks), Aaron King (Sacramento Mountain Lions) and Ryan Senser (Virginia Destroyers).
The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Two is below and only two snappers, Jon Condo (Raiders) and Cullen Loeffler (Vikings), recorded a tackle this week.
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