Best NFL Long Snappers of All Time: The Invisible Specialists
On this page12
- 01The greatest NFL long snappers at a glance
- 02Patrick Mannelly (1998-2013, Chicago Bears)
- 03Steve DeOssie (1984-1995)
- 04Don Muhlbach (2004-2020, Detroit Lions)
- 05Zak DeOssie (2007-2019, New York Giants)
- 06Andrew DePaola (Minnesota Vikings)
- 07Trey Junkin (1983-2002)
- 08How we ranked the greatest long snappers
- 09What the job actually demands
- 10Why the position stays anonymous
- 11The modern era is more specialized
- 12At a glance
We ranked snappers on sustained, error-free reliability first (thousands of clean snaps over a long career), then peak recognition (Pro Bowls, All-Pro nods), and finally postseason and franchise value. A single infamous mistake drops a résumé; a decade of games nobody noticed lifts it.
The greatest NFL long snappers at a glance
| Rank | Long snapper | Strongest legacy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patrick Mannelly | 16 seasons of elite consistency |
| 2 | Steve DeOssie | Evaluator's historical benchmark |
| 3 | Don Muhlbach | 17-season Detroit career |
| 4 | Zak DeOssie | Two Super Bowl rings |
| 5 | Andrew DePaola | Modern Pro Bowl record |
| 6 | Trey Junkin | Longevity shadowed by one playoff miss |
- Career gold standard
Patrick Mannelly (1998-2013, Chicago Bears)
Mannelly spent all 16 of his seasons with one team and never once broke, snapping 2,282 times without a botched snap by the Bears' count and setting the franchise records for seasons (16) and games played (245). Widely cited as the first player drafted specifically to be a long snapper (sixth round, 1998), he turned a throwaway roster spot into a career-length appointment.
He ranks above Steve DeOssie here on pure volume and durability: Mannelly played in every game in 12 of his 16 seasons and helped set NFL marks of 920 consecutive snaps and 180 straight games without a blocked punt. He never made a Pro Bowl, which says more about the position's invisibility than about him.
Team: Chicago Bears · Career: 1998-2013 · Defining feat: 245 games, 2,282 clean snaps, franchise-record 16 seasons
- Evaluators' No. 1
Steve DeOssie (1984-1995)
Hall of Fame voter Rick Gosselin ranks DeOssie first among all long snappers, ahead of Mannelly and Muhlbach. What separates him from every other name on this list is that he was a genuine two-way contributor, starting at inside linebacker for the Giants while handling the snaps.
He delivered a clean snap on Matt Bahr's field goals in the 1990 NFC playoff run and on the operation that won Super Bowl XXV, a 20-19 result over Buffalo. Across four teams he set the template later specialists would follow, and his son Zak inherited the job in New York.
Teams: Cowboys, Giants, Jets, Patriots · Career: 1984-1995 · Defining feat: Super Bowl XXV champion, Gosselin's all-time No. 1
- Longevity anchor
Don Muhlbach (2004-2020, Detroit Lions)
Muhlbach's case is built on tenure plus recognition, which edges him past the durable-but-unhonored careers below him. He snapped for the Lions across 17 seasons and 260 games, second in franchise history in both categories behind only kicker Jason Hanson.
He was a two-time Pro Bowler (2012, 2018) and the first long snapper in Lions history to earn the nod. An undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M, he outlasted three head-coaching eras in Detroit without losing the job.
Team: Detroit Lions · Career: 2004-2020 · Defining feat: 260 games, 2 Pro Bowls, No. 2 in Lions history for games played
- Two-ring specialist
Zak DeOssie (2007-2019, New York Giants)
DeOssie is the only man on this list with two Super Bowl rings, won after the 2007 and 2011 seasons, and he backed the hardware with two Pro Bowl selections. He ranks just behind Muhlbach on career length but ahead on postseason weight.
He held the Giants' snapping job for 13 straight seasons, following his father Steve into the same role and the same building. Reliable operations on kicks and punts through two title runs are the reason New York never had to think about the position for over a decade.
Team: New York Giants · Career: 2007-2019 · Defining feat: 2 Super Bowl titles, 2 Pro Bowls, 13 seasons
- Modern record-holder
Andrew DePaola (Minnesota Vikings)
DePaola is the most decorated snapper of the current era and the only one in NFL history with four consecutive Pro Bowl selections (2022-2025), plus a first-team All-Pro nod for 2022. No long snapper had ever strung together four straight before him.
He ranks below the historical greats only on career length, not honors, and he re-signed with Minnesota for 2026 as the reigning standard-setter at the position. His run shows how much more voting attention snappers now get than they did in Mannelly's day.
Team: Minnesota Vikings · Peak: 4 straight Pro Bowls (2022-2025) · Defining feat: only LS ever with 4 consecutive Pro Bowls
- Cautionary tale
Trey Junkin (1983-2002)
Junkin lasted 19 seasons across six teams, one of the longest careers the position has ever seen, and did the job well almost every week. He lands here because a single snap rewrote the whole résumé.
Coaxed out of retirement days earlier, the 41-year-old botched the hold operation on a potential game-winning 41-yard field goal in a 39-38 Wild Card loss to the 49ers in January 2003, after the Giants had led 38-14. It was the final snap of his career and the one everyone remembers.
Teams: six, incl. Raiders, Seahawks, Cardinals · Career: 1983-2002 · Defining feat: 19-season career, undone by one 2003 playoff snap
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- Patrick Mannelly (1998-2013, Chicago Bears)
- Steve DeOssie (1984-1995)
- Don Muhlbach (2004-2020, Detroit Lions)
- Zak DeOssie (2007-2019, New York Giants)
- Andrew DePaola (Minnesota Vikings)
- Trey Junkin (1983-2002)
Audience ranking
How everyone ranked them
Built from reader rankings using position-based points.
No broadcast ever cuts to a replay of a good snap. That is the whole trick of the job: do it right and nobody learns your name. The best NFL long snappers built their reputations on being invisible for a decade or more, and the ranking above weighs that invisibility as the highest virtue the position offers.
How we ranked the greatest long snappers
Because there is no Hall of Fame track, no standard stat line, and no highlight reel for the position, we leaned on three things in order. First, sustained error-free reliability: thousands of clean snaps across a long career is the whole point of the job, so a snapper like Patrick Mannelly, with a spotless record over 245 games, tops the list. Second, peak recognition, which means Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections, added only after 2011 when snapper became its own ballot slot. Third, postseason and franchise value, which is why two-time champion Zak DeOssie and the two-way Steve DeOssie rate above longer-tenured names who never won.
We deliberately penalized the one thing that defines the position from the outside: a costly miss. Trey Junkin’s 19-year career is one of the longest ever, but a single botched playoff snap is the reason he sits sixth rather than higher.
What the job actually demands
From the stands it looks like a formality. Up close it is a strange, narrow skill:
- Speed. A punt snap has to reach the punter 7-8 yards back in roughly 0.7 to 0.8 seconds; a field-goal snap covers about 15 yards to the holder.
- Accuracy. A spiral that drifts even slightly off-center forces the holder to adjust the laces, and the timing on the longest field goals collapses.
- Blocking. The instant the ball leaves his hands, the snapper turns and engages a rusher already charging at him, all while recovering from an upside-down motion.
- Consistency. Across 17 regular-season games plus playoffs, there is no off week. One miss can end a season.
Why the position stays anonymous
Special teams coordinators guard the snapper spot more closely than almost any roster slot. Once a team finds someone reliable, they leave him alone, because the snap-to-hold-to-kick operation runs on shared reps that take months to build. That protectiveness is why five of the six names here held a single job for well over a decade, and why the pay stays low even for elite specialists, well below what the highest-paid NFL kickers earn in the same kicking game.
The modern era is more specialized
Long snapping now gets attention that did not exist a generation ago. Players commit to the position as college freshmen, and regional showcases rank snapper prospects the way scouts rank quarterbacks. The effect shows in the honors: Andrew DePaola stacked four straight Pro Bowls, and Ross Matiscik of the Jaguars matched three Pro Bowls with three All-Pro nods. Both arrived in the league with mechanics polished enough to start in Week 1, the natural endpoint of a role that evolved from afterthought into craft. It is the same trend that reshaped other overlooked jobs, from the fullback to the nose tackle.
At a glance
| Player | Career | Team(s) | Case for the ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick Mannelly | 1998-2013 | Chicago Bears | 245 games, 2,282 clean snaps, franchise records |
| Steve DeOssie | 1984-1995 | Cowboys, Giants, Jets, Patriots | Gosselin’s No. 1; two-way LB; Super Bowl XXV |
| Don Muhlbach | 2004-2020 | Detroit Lions | 260 games; 2 Pro Bowls (2012, 2018) |
| Zak DeOssie | 2007-2019 | New York Giants | 2 Super Bowls; 2 Pro Bowls; 13 seasons |
| Andrew DePaola | active | Minnesota Vikings | Record 4 straight Pro Bowls (2022-2025) |
| Trey Junkin | 1983-2002 | Six teams | 19-season career; one costly 2003 snap |
Frequently asked questions
Who is the best long snapper in NFL history?+
There is no official answer, since the position has no Hall of Fame category. Patrick Mannelly is the popular pick, largely for 16 flawless seasons and being the first player drafted specifically as a snapper. Hall of Fame voter Rick Gosselin instead ranks Steve DeOssie first, with Mannelly second and Don Muhlbach third. Most evaluators agree the top tier is those three plus Zak DeOssie.
Which long snapper has the most Pro Bowls?+
Andrew DePaola of the Vikings now holds the record with four consecutive Pro Bowl selections (2022-2025), the first long snapper ever to reach four in a row. Before his run, no snapper had earned more than two, a mark shared by Jon Dorenbos, Zak DeOssie, Morgan Cox, and Don Muhlbach. Long snappers only became their own Pro Bowl position in 2011, which limits the historical totals.
How much do NFL long snappers get paid?+
Long snappers are among the lowest-paid players on a roster, usually near the veteran minimum of a few million total over a multi-year deal. The job rarely approaches the pay of skill players, or even kickers and punters, because teams value stability over a splashy contract. You can see the gap in the kicking game itself on our list of the highest-paid NFL kickers of all time, who out-earn snappers by wide margins.
Why did Patrick Mannelly never make a Pro Bowl?+
Mannelly played from 1998 to 2013, and long snappers were not a dedicated Pro Bowl position until 2011, near the very end of his career. By then, younger specialists were drawing the votes. It reflects how the honor tracks recent visibility more than career body of work, since Mannelly retired as the Bears' all-time leader in seasons and games with a spotless snapping record.
What happened with Trey Junkin's famous bad snap?+
In the January 2003 NFC Wild Card game, a 41-year-old Junkin, coaxed out of retirement days earlier by the Giants, botched the snap on a potential game-winning 41-yard field goal in a 39-38 loss to the 49ers. New York had led 38-14. It was the final snap of his 19-year career and became the headline over nearly two decades of dependable work, a reminder of how unforgiving the job is.
Who is the best current NFL long snapper?+
Andrew DePaola of the Vikings is the most decorated active snapper, with four straight Pro Bowl nods through the 2025 season and a first-team All-Pro selection. Ross Matiscik of the Jaguars is right there with him, earning three consecutive Pro Bowls and three All-Pro honors of his own (2023-2025). Both represent a modern, highly specialized generation that arrives in the league already polished.
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