It’s one of the most overlooked positions in football. But here’s why it’s so important
It’s among the most obscure positions on a professional football team.
But if something doesn’t go right, even just once, it can become the most talked about.
The long snapper. The person who hikes the ball to punters and to holders for extra points and field goals. Long snappers also become blockers when the opposing team returns the kick after a punt.
It’s a position that requires speed, precision and the ability to perform under pressure. A long snap has to go 15 yards for a punt or about 7 yards for an extra point or a field goal. And in a sport where inches are crucial, a faulty long snap can result in a blocked punt or missed field goal and mean the difference between winning and losing.
“I think it’s a pretty tough position,” former New England Patriots legendary coach Bill Belichick said when asked about long snappers in a 2021 interview. “You know, nobody knows or cares who the snapper is until there’s a bad snap, and all of a sudden it’s a front-page story.”
The Complete Guide to the Long Snapper Position on throwdeeppublishing.com describes the long snapper’s role this way:
“On extra points and field goals, their job is to snap it back to the holder in the blink of an eye with pinpoint accuracy — giving the kicker plenty of time as the onslaught of the defense looks to get a hand on the kick.”
The snap requires perfection, it says, with minimal room for error.
“Holders are on a knee,” the guide says, “with little mobility to catch a wayward snap, which therefore demands a snap within the frame of their body that they can catch and get down in a hurry for the kicker.”
A long snapper’s job on punts is trickier, it says, because the punter is standing farther away and punters usually take three steps before punting the football.
“A crisp snap simply leads to a better chance for solid protection, and quality punt,” the guide says. “Added with this, is their job to cover the punt, and pursue downfield after snapping the football. … Long snappers must be able to snap with focus in the trenches, as well as having the ability to mix it up with more athletic players, and make the occasional tackle as they cover downfield.”
Some question whether it makes sense to use up a roster spot for a dedicated long snapper position. Couldn’t another player also be the long snapper and free up a spot on the roster?
That used to be the case decades ago, and the job often fell to the back-up center. But today’s centers are bigger and heavier, making them less suitable for handling the long snapper position.
Throughout his Hall of Fame career, outside linebacker Bobby Bell was sometimes used as a long snapper.
Now, every NFL team has a dedicated long snapper.
In 2004, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Kendall Gammon became the first pure long snapper to play in a Pro Bowl.
What happens when a snap goes bad?
Football enthusiasts point to a 2022 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers as a good example of how crucial the long snapper position is.
The Bengals tied the game with seconds left at the end of the fourth quarter and needed only the extra point to win. But the Bengals’ long snapper had been injured, and the kick was blocked because the snap from the backup long snapper was slow. The game went into overtime, and the Bengals needed to make a 29-yard field goal to win. But this time, the snap was high, the kick missed badly and the Bengals ending up losing.
The Chiefs’ current long snapper is James Winchester, a three-time Super Bowl champion.
Winchester played for the University of Oklahoma, then entered the NFL as a free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013. He signed with the Chiefs in March 2015.
He knows firsthand what can happen when a snap goes awry.
In a November 2019 game against the Tennessee Titans, a miscommunication on a field goal attempt from the Titans’ 29-yard-line with less than a minute-and-a-half to go led to an early and low snap that resulted in an intentional grounding penalty. That glitch, which came after 753 successful snaps and the Chiefs leading 32-27, gave the Titans the ball, and they ended up winning 35-32.
Winchester talked about his position in a 2023 interview with Chiefs’ senior team reporter Matt McMullen on an episode of “Under the Goalpost.”
“A lot of times people don’t realize how difficult it is,” he said, “and you just toss them the ball and say, ‘Well, try it.’ And then it’s a very humbling experience when they try it and they can’t do it.”
Winchester said when he first came into the National Football League, he wanted to prove “week in and week out” that he was a good athlete by making every tackle. But then, he said, former Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt “kind of brought me back down a little bit.”
He said Colquitt told him, “‘Hey, I know you’re a great athlete, but you’re here to snap first. ... You need to snap first, then protect and then cover.
“And so I took that advice and ran with it,” Winchester said, “and tried to apply that throughout my career, and try to be a snapper first and then an athlete.
“But if you’re an athlete, that comes natural. You just go play, and sometimes it lines up where you’re in the right place at the right time.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
