After K Austin Seibert ended the week with a questionable designation on the injury report, the Washington Commanders have added another special teams player to the report on Saturday. This time, LS Tyler Ott (illness) was downgraded to questionable, per the Commanders on X.
Many people don’t think about the role of a long snapper unless they mess up, but it can create big issues if a long snapper gets injured in-game or is otherwise unavailable on short notice. According to ESPN’s John Keim on X, the emergency long snapper is starting left guard Nick Allegretti.
Allegretti has also played 52 snaps on the field goal unit this year, so if he moves to long snapper, they will need to backfill his position as well. For a Pittsburgh Steelers special teams unit that has blocked three total field goals and punts this season, that could be something to watch closely on Sunday.
He has never had to actually step in as the emergency long snapper in a regular or postseason game according to PFF’s snap count totals. You have to go all the way back to 2016 for the Illinois Fighting Illini when Allegretti logged his lone long snap in Week 6, which I believe would have been against Purdue that season. That is the only long snap rep that Allegretti has on record in college or the NFL in PFF’s system.
Meanwhile, the Steelers just activated two special teams aces from IR today with Tyler Matakevich and Ben Skowronek returning back to the active roster. The Commanders’ special teams unit is trending firmly in the wrong direction while the Steelers’ strong unit gets stronger.
If Seibert can’t go, Zane Gonzalez was signed to the Commanders’ practice squad on Friday. There is a decent chance that two thirds of their field goal operation could be replacement players against the Steelers.
