Ranking the Packers (No. 46): Hunter Bradley

Long snapper Hunter Bradley doesn't have a challenger on the roster but that doesn't mean his spot on the team is safe.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Jul 13, 2020 12:51 PM EDT

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In a tradition that stretches more than a decade, here is our annual ranking of the 90 players on the Green Bay Packers’ roster. This isn’t merely a look at the best players. Rather, it’s a formula that combines talent, salary, importance of the position, depth at the position and, for young players, draft positioning. More than the ranking, we hope you learn a little something about every player on the roster.

No. 46: LS Hunter Bradley (6-3, 241, third season, Mississippi State)

In NFL history, only 13 long snappers have been drafted. One of them is Bradley, Green Bay’s seventh-round pick in 2018. With rare draft capital used at a position that perhaps plays a dozen snaps per game, the expectation was Bradley would provide longtime stability at a position that had lacked it.

Bradley hasn’t been bad. In two seasons, he’s only had one truly bad snap – a field goal at the end of the first half at Washington in 2018 – but he hasn’t been great, either. He’s had several snaps that holder JK Scott has had save.

“I think he’s on course,” special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga said during an offseason Zoom call. “There’s a couple of snaps at different points toward the middle (of the season) and he had a stretch at the end of the season where there was a couple of short snaps that had some wobble to them. We’ve talked about that. He’s having a good offseason from talking to him. He knows the things that he needs to work on. He’s a good pro. He’s learning how to do it, learning how to be that pro going into his third year here. I think he took a lot of steps from his rookie year to last year in improving, and I expect him to take some more big steps going into his third year. He knows what he needs to do and he’s working on those things.”

Bradley, who played a role in Mason Crosby’s superb 22-of-24 season on field goals and has made three career tackles, shares a duplex in the Green Bay area with Scott, so their work extends beyond the practice field. “He texted me one day and said, ‘Meet me at the 50-yard line,’” Scott told the Athletic. “What he meant was literally the line between our yards.” Added Bradley: “He wanted to go over to the facility and get some snaps in, and instead, I just got a cleat and dug a line, and then walked off 8 yards and dug another line, and we were just back there getting work. It’s so convenient.”

Take them for what they’re worth, but Bradley finished in the middle of the pack in PFF’s long-snapping grades after finishing last as a rookie.

“I think just the consistency standpoint, just throughout the season on his short snaps on a few things, and we’ve talked about those and he’ll get those fixed and just a few accuracy things,” Mennenga said. “He took major steps last year and continued to improve, and I know he’s going to take those steps again. I look forward to what he’s going to do this year for us.”

Why he’s got a chance: Bradley is the only snapper on the roster, which obviously makes it his job to lose. Of course, as with any position, competition is only a phone call away.