The Pittsburgh Steelers experiment with Kendrick Green at fullback has gotten a lot of traction lately, but it’s not the only position that is open for grabs. The Steelers need a backup long snapper, something Mike Tomlin articulated in his press conference today.
“We better be open to secondary jobs and roles and getting to know the individuals and finding out what it is that they can do,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel. “It’s a bunch of those little stories going on around, I know some get more traction than others, but it’s just very much part of team development. You know, I’m looking for a backup snapper, for instance. I’m sure you’re not highly interested in that, but there’s a lot of these roles, secondary roles and things that transpire in an environment like this.”
Given that the team needs both a backup center and a backup long snapper, it could be taken as either. But this morning on the DVE Morning Show, Tomlin specifically mentioned the need for a backup long snapper.
“Derek Watt was our backup snapper, so I’m looking for a backup snapper. You guys won’t spent any time talking about that,” Tomlin said, while adding he hopes it never comes to needing one.
The Steelers did need one after Greg Warren suffered a knee injury, and James Harrison snapped for the Steelers during a Week Eight game against the New York Giants in 2008. Pittsburgh turned to its star outside linebacker to snap then. If the Steelers need an emergency snapper, they could turn to Derek Watt’s brother T.J. Watt, who’s taken reps as a long snapper in practice before.
But Tomlin is right that in terms of filling out roles for everyone on the roster, a lot of the battles or jobs that are there to be won don’t get a lot of attention. Even the starting long-snapper battle between Rex Sunahara and Christian Kuntz isn’t one that’s heavily talked about. Green has performed well at fullback and it’s an interesting experiment, so it’s dominated the media cycle since he first took snaps there during Friday Night Lights. But no one’s really paying attention to or talking about the roles, like a backup long snapper, that could be won.
The Steelers never want to get in a situation where they’ll need to turn to a backup snapper, but if they do, they better make damn sure they’re comfortable with whoever it is. It’s an underrated component of the game, and finding someone in camp is going to be important if the need ever arises.
With just one big roster cutdown day on Aug. 29 this year, Tomlin and the rest of the coaching staff can take their time when it comes to narrowing down the 53-man roster. That gives someone like Green more of an opportunity to show what he can do at fullback, while also letting him show he can earn a role on the offensive line. Obviously, if Watt is the backup long snapper he’s at no risk of getting cut, but we don’t know if he’s even in contention. It’s a role that someone on the roster bubble could show they’re skilled at and win a roster spot because of it.
There’s just so much that goes into competing for a job in the NFL that every little thing you can do to add value is going to help in a big way. That includes snapping, even if we might never find out who Pittsburgh’s backup long snapper even is.
