Patrick Mannelly

Dear Snappers,

This week we are going to turn our attention to arguably the greatest long snapper to ever do it. The GOAT, The Soldier Field Sniper, Patrick Mannelly, is in the snapper spotlight this week!

His record speaks for itself, he had an amazing 16 year career with the Chicago Bears from '98-'13. Pat is the third longest tenured long snapper to play in the NFL. Thats 2,282 snaps in his career at a 100% clip. If you ask him, he might say he had a bad snap or two, but I'm here to tell you that he didn't. This guy deserves a freaking statue right next to the Michael Jordan statue, or maybe a giant statue snapping the Chicago Bean!

Any Long Snapper that has played in the Midwest knows that snaps start getting a little more fun when the temperatures start to drop. There aren't a whole lot of places that you'll find to challenge a long snapper more than a cold December day in the Windy City, but to survive 16 seasons and never have a bad snap is incredible. Consistency over that long of a period is legendary.

Long Snapping Longevity

Taking care of your body enough to play 16 seasons in the NFL is really incredible. It can't be done by many, no matter what position you play. The wear and tear on our bodies is intense and it takes a lot of discipline to be able to recover and continue playing. Mannelly sure isn't invincible, he suffered a torn ACL in 2011 and a cracked rib in 2013, all while still only missing 11 games in his career. The man is a machine!! A well taken care off, perfectly tuned MACHINE!

Playing for 16 seasons is an incredible thing to achieve, but to also be rocking a sick mullet for a decent amount of that time is the part that many find hard to believe. How does one man handle having so much business in the front, while still having all that party in the back?!?!

The Long Snapper that Laid the Wood

The accuracy, the resiliency, the durability, those are all amazing things to have in a long snapper. Those are all things that young snappers need to look to build as they continue their careers. All of those things are great, but the reason that we love Pat here at the Long Snapping Lifestyle, is because of his ability to GET DOWN THE FIELD.

Being a Midwest snapper myself, I knew from watching the games that Pat got down the field. I was blown away looking up stats because, according to the Bears website, Mannelly recorded 81 special teams tackles with the Bears. That's unreal! That averages out to over five tackles a season. Unbelievable. As I said before, A MACHINE. A real standout in the argument that snappers are athletes too. I love it!

Toughness. Intensity. Passion. Patrick Mannelly doesn't just know what it meant to live the Long Snapping Lifestyle, he was one of the pioneers.

The Patrick Mannelly Award

Pat's career was amazing, but what he has done for long snapping didn't end when he hung up the jersey. Because he hasn't stopped pushing the lifestyle, I want to give a final shout out to him, along with Chris Rubio and Kevin Gold. They have worked together in developing the Patrick Mannelly Award given to the best long snapper at the collegiate level. After reading about Pat, I know he struggled in the NFL to get his ability and his craft recognized while he was playing. (The NFL just doesn't understand the LSLifestyle) It is great to have some recognition for a position that usually doesn't want the publicity.

FROM ALL OF US AT LSLIFESTYLE AND THE REST OF THE UP-AND-COMING LONG SNAPPING COMMUNITY, I WANT TO THANK PATRICK MANNELLY FOR SETTING THE BAR HIGH FOR THE REST OF US TO LOOK UP TO AND TRY TO ACHIEVE!

We got to experience a great fourth down Super Bowl last Sunday! I hope all of you preferred watching punt snaps more than PAT snaps. 

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