Starters Greg Jennings and T.J. Lang will be free agents after the season and superstars Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews are vastly underpaid by NFL standards, but the player most likely to sign an extension with the Green Bay Packers in the coming weeks is probably Brett Goode. The 27-year-old long snapper is scheduled to make $676,000 in the last year of his contract.
Many Packers fans have never heard of Goode, and that’s – pardon the pun – a good thing. Players at this position strive for anonymity. If you know the name of a long snapper, it’s probably because he screwed up. The most famous long snapper in NFL history is Trey Junkin, and not because he successfully snapped the football thousands of times during a 22-year career. It’s because his poor snaps in a playoff game cost the Giants a win.
Getting a deal done with Goode should be relatively easy. The Giants recently signed Zak DeOssie to an extension worth nearly $3.5 million over three seasons, including $900,000 in guaranteed money. Goode won’t get quite that much since DeOssie is more effective covering punts and can play linebacker in a pinch. Still, that’s about the going rate for the league’s best long snappers, and Goode clearly belongs in that category – even if very few people know his name.
I thought it was right on when a blogger giving end of season grades gave Goode a “pass” instead of the usual letter grade saying a LS either passes or fails at his job.
This is off topic but Michael I would like your take. Roster spots are so crucial to a team. This year TT could keep an extra WR, OL, LB, etc if he didn’t hold a spot for a LS. He doesn’t like to give a spot to a RS if he can’t play another position. Yet it’s different for a LS.
WHAT IF teams gave a $500K-$1M bonus for a reserve player who could win the LS job so they wouldn’t have to give the spot to a specialist? I could see TE’s, LB’s, and Linemen (both O and D) going to LS schools to not only go after the extra money but to position themselves for a more secure roster spot. I would think Zombo, Crabtree, Wilson, and EDS would love what winning the LS spot would mean to them. And what would it mean to UDFA’s like Brooks, Draheim, even Moses.
I’m not trying to minimize the talent needed to be a LS. Just thinking if there was a monetary benefit more players would pursue it plus the team benefits by having an extra roster spot and in some cases saving a few sheckles. Your thoughts?
I did think of one potential downside. Would players who played other specialty positions like RS and holders on FG’s/PA’s demand extra compensation. Your thoughts?
There’s a reason every team uses a roster spot on a long snapper – it’s an art. These guys do nothing but practice snapping. I think it would be very difficult for a player to be a top-flight long snapper and also contribute at another position.
I have a hunch Lang will be extended before the season is out, maybe even before TC ends.
Jennings remains the great unknown. Tough to let a great player go in his prime but I’d argue that AR’s ability to throw the pig, combined with TT’s penchant for finding top talent at WR, makes WRs on this team, even the #1, more replaceable than top talent at other positions. $100 MM for AROD, $75 MM for CMIII, $50 MM for Jennings and Raji, pretty soon you are talking big bucks and can’t afford the rest of the team. TT will hang on to Raji and overpay him just as he has with Hawk. But Jennings could be the Packer he decides to economize on. Another reason why holding on to DD makes little sense.