Unloved, unnoticed and irreplaceable: The story of the Long Snapper

PFL features | The Long Snapper

Hands up who knows who is the Long Snapper for the Ballymore Tigers?  Anyone? No? Um, how about for the champion Landor Knights? Still no? Well, meet the position where fame is not sought, if you’re getting attention, you may be doing it wrong. Welcome to the world of the most unheralded position in Football. I give you the Long Snapper.

It wasn’t even considered a proper position, deserving of a specialist roster spot until the 1990s. Yep. The backups often got a roster spot on their ability to long snap. The teams started taking in more seriously after some key games, where missed field goals and extra points had been attributed to botched snaps. one by one they reserved a roster spot for someone who could specialise in getting the ball to the punter and to the holder on place kicks. Nowadays it is an accepted position, but is it respected?

The Other Players

Players have a weird relationship on special teams. They’re not ‘real players’ is often kidded around. The Kicker puts points on the board, the punter puts your defence in a good field position. The  snapper? Who he? What the heck does he do?

They congratulate a good kick, or a good hold for the kick, but what about the snap. “They only yell about you when you mess up, so I kinda like being an unknown” says Giants’ Longsnapper David Grant.

The Fans

Can you name your teams long snapper? bet you can’t! Or if you can , can you name any other team’s one? No chance. You focus on the kicker and perhaps send a bit of love to the holder.

Staticians

Nope, no love here. Only some guy in the PFL offices who records bad snaps, meaning you can work out how many % have been bad by looking at the game stats.

What they do!

Every single punt, field goal and extra point attempt needs a perfect snap. They need someone who can thrust the ball 7-15 yards backwards with precision. They also are responsible for protection calls, blocking and then coverage.

As they need to be able to work coverage (occasionally making the tackle) they are lighter than normal linemen- no near 300 pounders in here.

When you watch the game, just notice how the snap went. Too high and the punter’s in trouble or the holder won’t place it correctly.  Let’s give some love to these specialists!

2017 Starting Longsnappers

To help you get to know the Longsnappers of the PFL, here’s the list of the starters from the 2017-18 season

Team	#	First Name	Last Name	Ht.	Wt.
96ers	55	Greg	Eslinger	6.3	252
Bulldogs	47	Max	Radalenko	6.4	257
Eagles	49	Ronny	Grimm	6.3	242
Giants	53	David	Grant	6.2	232
Hawks	51	Will	Justice	6.3	244
Knights	58	Mike	Armstrong	6.3	248
Miners	55	London	Caldwell	6.2	275
Oilers	45	Jon	Pinder	6.3	238
Phoenix	59	Jeff	Langford	6.2	235
Ravens	53	Gene	Sexton	6.4	242
Sharks	52	Corey	Millard	6.2	246
Stars	40	Jamie	Beasley	6.2	230
Steelers	47	Josh	Green	6.4	251
Tigers	55	Jason	Franks	6.5	234
Trojans	50	Quinton	Hood	6.4	249
Wasps	54	Jim	Lankford	6.3	255

 

2017 Rookies – Drafted

Rnd	Ovr	Team	Player	Pos
3	43	Ravens	Drew Potts	LS
7	103	Phoenix	Ray Tyler	LS
8	118	Tigers	Paul Youngstead	LS