New Snapper

Cullen Loeffler has been the long snapper for the Minnesota Vikings since 2004. That's when he won a training camp battle with incumbent Brody Heffner-Liddiard. Loeffler entered the 2015 offeseaon as the most tenured player on the team. 11 years. He's been so solid at the position that the Vikings hadn't seen a need to bring in competition until this training camp. Kevin McDermott was that competition. Loeffler was notified on Sunday that McDermott will be the Vikings long snapper moving forward. The 11-year veteran is now a free agent for the first time since he was an undrafted free agent in 2004.

Long snapper can be a thankless job. They are anonymous when everything's going right. The spotlight is bright on them when something goes wrong. Cullen Loeffler was pretty much anonymous for ten years. Last year was the first year in which it seemed like not all of his snaps were perfect. One of the less than perfect snaps was even a significant reason for a loss. Loeffler's subpar 2014 season was the reason for the training camp competition with Kevin McDermott. The Vikings have also made a concerted effort recently to get younger at the specialist positions. They drafted kicker Blair Walsh to replace Ryan Longwell in 2012. They drafted punter Jeff Locke to replace Chris Kluwe in 2013. Locke and McDermott were teammates at UCLA. Longwell, Kluwe, and Loeffler were a solid battery for six years. They were great on the field. They were great friends off the field. They were characters. They had fun. They were fun. Specialists are often a little different. Especially kickers. They are usually off by themselves practicing on a different field. They don't often fit in with the other 50 players on the roster. Longwell, Kluwe, and Loeffler were team leaders. Kluwe might have been the most different from the rest but he didn't seem to be removed from the rest. It was sad to see Longwell and then Kluwe replaced but from a football perspective it felt like the time was right. It was only a matter of time before Loeffler followed his friends. The Vikings had to make a decision now. Walsh missed three field goals and an extra point in last Saturday's preseason game against the Oakland Raiders. A terrible night. Rotating long snappers couldn't have been doing the timing of place kicks any favors. The Vikings have to get this fixed and they had to pick a long snapper. The new specialists have about three weeks to get that timing down before the games start counting.

Cullen Loeffler has been a great long snapper and teammate for eleven years. It's tough to lose that. Blair Walsh gives Loeffler credit for making his adjustment to the NFL a little easier. He probably did the same thing for Jeff Locke. He's such a great teammate, friend, and stand-up guy that he called Kevin McDermott to congratulate him. That's how McDermott found out that he's the Vikings new long snapper. The Vikings first new long snapper since 2004.