Draft Preview 2021: Specialists
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April 29, 2021
by Steve Thomas
Welcome to draft day! We finally made it to the end of our draft preview series, with zero time to spare. Here are the links to all of our position group previews:
- Interior defensive line
- Defensive ends
- Tackles
- Tight ends
- Interior offensive line
- Running backs
- Corners
- Safeties
- Receivers
- Linebackers
- Quarterbacks
We’ll wrap up the previews with a quick look at specialists. As I wrote about last week (click here to read), Washington elected to let long snapper Nick Sundberg go, so the team is now in need of a replacement. Tress Way is at the beginning of a 4 year contract extension and is thus firmly entrenched as the punter. Dustin Hopkins was re-signed for another year for $1.887M, but which due to a quirk in the CBA only counts for a cap hit of a little more than $1.2M. That same quirk would result in a dead cap hit of the full $1.887M if he were cut, meaning that Hopkins is probably safe for another year. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that Washington is only in the market for a long snapper, but since this is your official specialist preview, we’ll go over a few punters and kickers as well.
Long snappers
As I wrote in my Sundberg column last week, the top long snapper coach in the country, Chris Rubio (check out his website at www.rubiolongsnapping.com), gave me his list of the top snappers available in this draft:
Thomas Fletcher, 6’2” / 231, Alabama: Fletcher won the 2020 Patrick Mannelly Award, which is given to the top long snapper in the country. He’s been a starter for the Crimson Tide for four seasons, has done both punt and kick snapping since 2018, and was the first name given to me by Rubio. He never had a bad snap in his collegiate career. Fletcher’s father, Tom Fletcher, was also a snapper. If Washington is actually going to use a draft pick on a long snapper, it should be Fletcher.
Ryan Langan, 6’1” / 225, Georgia Southern: Langan was a finalist for the Mannelly Award this past season and has been with Georgia Southern since 2018. He was Rubio’s second name in our conversation. Langan was a four year starter who played in 51 games.
Cameron Cheeseman, 6’4” / 230, Michigan: Cheeseman was Rubio’s #3. He sat out the 2020 season, so he has not seen game action since 2019. Cheeseman’s obvious advantage over both Fletcher and Langan is size – at 6’4” and 230 pounds, he would be a bit more valuable in punt coverage.
Kickers
Evan McPherson, 5’11” / 185, Florida: McPherson made 51 kicks in 60 attempts in three years, and 149 of 150 extra points. He had a long of 55 yards in 2020. McPherson is a junior who left a year early to enter the NFL draft.
Jose Borregales, 5’10” / 205, Miami: Borregales spent four years at Florida International, then transferred to Miami for the 2020 season. Between 2017 and 2020, he made 70 kicks in 88 attempts and 168 of 171 extra points. He had a long of 57 yards in 2020.
Riley Patterson, 6’0” / 190, Memphis: Patterson kicked for Memphis for four years, making a total of 64 kicks in 83 attempts, with a long of 56 yards.
Punters
Max Duffy, 6’1” / 186, Kentucky: Duffy is a native Australian and the consensus top punter prospect in the draft. Duffy has 151 punts between 2018 and 2020, with an average of 46.0 yards per punt. His downside is that he has had several concussions and suffered a seizure before Kentucky’s 2019 bowl game.
James Smith, 6’5” / 235, Cincinnati: Smith is also Australian. He made 235 punts for Cincinnati between 2017 and 2020 for an average of 43.6 yards per punt.
Pressley Harvin, 6’0” / 255, Georgia Tech: Harvin won the Ray Guy Award in 2020. He made 210 punts between 2017 and 2020 for an average of 44.7 yards per punt. He is generally considered to have the strongest leg in the draft, but he’s known to struggle with directional punting, which is a key skill in the NFL.