Long Snapper As Backup Center?

[John813]

It's the same thing that confuses me about why some punters are such awful placekickers. It really comes down to, while the positions look similar ... they aren't. I was once told that being a long snapper is much more like being a quarterback than a center. You're trying to throw a tight spiral while looking through your legs. It isn't easy.

The technique has to be perfect.Bad snap on a field goal, the holder has to juggle and the kicker is delayed or may kick off a bad hold-which looks bad for the kicker in real time but it'll lead back to the snapper on the film review. Same thing for the punt team. It really is a matter of a second or so between a blocked kick and and good kick. Any delay or bad snap can cause a special teams gaffe.

I'm sure every team would love to gain another spot on the 53, but it's not worth the risk.

 

[gtb1943]

I doubt it. Not to a degree that it matters in the long run.

Most teams have crappy kickers anyway. Teams who depend on the kicking game aren't contenders.

But yea I don't really care if you need to carry a LS just for the convenience of it, but it's not like a team's success is ever going to hinge on having a good long snapper.

So a bad snap that results in a blocked punt is not a problem? A bad snap that causes the missed FG that could have won the game is not a problem?
Amazing the ignorance of some posters about something so basic.

 

[McMicah]

I agree with this. It's because they play at that weight and work on that skill because that's their best position. A guy I played with in high school got a scholarship to play long snapper. His son was a long snapper in college and even smaller than him. If you find a center who can do it, you get to hold onto an extra player, which can be crucial. But most centers don't want to long snap.

I think it was way harder in the past because they defense would just destroy the snapper, but now there are rules that protect longsnappers, so I’d assume you could theoretically have a heavier guy do it, BUT heavier = less flexible alot of times, so maybe that would just be a very rare person

 

[xwalker]

Can anyone tell me why all longsnappers only weigh like 230 lbs? I just don’t understand why they are so light.

Wouldn’t it save a roster spot if you had a backup Center who could also be a long snapper? Seems like a heavy LS could be highly paid to also be a backup Center and save a roster spot

When long-snappers retire, it's normally because they can't run down and cover punts anymore.

It's likely that Dale Hellestrae could still long-snap with great accuracy; however, at 61 years old, covering punts would be a problem...

 

[Mac_MaloneV1]

So a bad snap that results in a blocked punt is not a problem? A bad snap that causes the missed FG that could have won the game is not a problem?
Amazing the ignorance of some posters about something so basic.

I didn't say it's not a problem

I said it's so rare that there's no functional difference between a "good" long snapper and a "bad" long snapper.

You keep speaking in these platitudes and ignoring the fact that bad snaps are exceedingly rare.