Written by Chris Hutchison

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A Long Snapper who can't snap is about as useful to a football team as a Linebacker with no legs or an aardvark.

Ryan Pontbriand, a controversial 5th Round Draft Pick in 2003, was the last remaining vestage (and one could argue best pick) of the highly disastrous Butch Davis/Pete Garcia regime.  He made the Pro Bowl in 2007 and 2008 and only missed 5 games in 9 seasons.

But NFL teams can't afford to keep backup Long Snappers any more than they can afford a Long Snapper that can't get the ball from between his legs to the Holder without bouncing it along the turf or banking it off someone's leg.  Missed FG's partially affected by bad snaps doomed the Browns 2 of the last 3 weeks and almost cost them the 3rd.  One could argue (somewhat unfairly) that if Pontbriand had done his job, Cleveland would be 6-5 right now.

Pontbriand knew it was a mental thing, acknowledging that he was "in a slump" after the Cincy loss.  But Long Snapper is not a position that gets the luxury of working through slumps.

Ryan, it sucks, but in the NFL it's a dog-eat-dog world, and you're wearing milkbone underwear (as Norm Peterson would say).  Good luck to you and thanks for the memories.

The Browns announced they will be replacing Pontbriand with a Jugs Machine.