Everyone makes mistakes in the National Football League. Patrick Mahomes, the greatest of all superstars, who now has three Super Bowl rings, threw 14 picks last season and saw a third of his passes fall incomplete.
Wide receivers drop balls. Linemen get outmaneuvered. Coverages get blown. Kickers miss field goals.
Yet as you read this, there is an NFL hopeful out there putting in long hours who went through his entire college career without screwing up a single time. Not once.
Simon Samarzich is a long snapper out of Washington State who is hoping for an opportunity in the pros. Specialists in his position rarely get drafted. There are at most, maybe one or two per year drafted in the late rounds, and those who get to long snap at the highest level usually find themselves unemployed if they’re responsible for the ball going awry at a key moment.
Samarzich’s consistency was his hallmark during his five years and 56 games with the Cougars. He had no botched snaps, no deliveries sent sailing over a holder’s head, no punts returned for a touchdown. He was as consistent and reliable as anyone.
But he is not Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, outstanding QB prospects who might as well start counting their millions now.
Samarzich has signed with agent Bardia Ghahremani but once late April’s draft wraps up, he will most likely be in a category with countless other optimists around the country — seeking to either grab an undrafted free agent deal or land a spot at training camp.
“There are a bunch of guys out there working as hard as they’ve ever worked in their life, and you’re just hoping for someone to give you that one chance to show that you can do this,” Samarzich told me this week.
“My position is one of those interesting ones. If you’re doing the right thing, you don’t get noticed. If people start saying your name, it’s probably for the wrong reasons. I’m just putting in the hours, hoping I fit what someone is looking for.”
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The lack of certainty doesn’t stop Samarzich from attacking his possible opportunity with relentlessness. He’s in the gym every morning at 6 a.m., working out at the Top Notch Training preparatory facility in San Dimas, Calif., a short drive from his family’s home in nearby Upland.
He follows that by spending time on a work site where he picks up hours at his uncle’s construction company. He spends most of his time laying sewer lines, pipes and storm drains on a variety of city and county projects.
After that work come evening workouts at LA Fitness. He’s also still snapping several times a week, launching balls into a net or the hands of whoever can be persuaded to simulate a punter or holder’s duties for him.
Then there’s the diet.
Samarzich played at around 225 pounds in college, but that’s smaller than what most NFL coaches are looking for from their long snappers. He says he now weighs 248, which involved equal effort in the weight room and at the dinner table. Having an unrestricted diet wasn’t as much fun as it sounds — “there’s being full and then there’s being uncomfortably full,” he said — but the strength gains have been noticeable. That seemed to help his performance, garnering praise at coach Gary Zauner’s annual specialists camp in Arizona last week.
Specialists don’t go to the official NFL Combine, so he will have a chance to prove himself at Washington State’s upcoming pro day instead, hoping to catch the eyes of evaluators. With a wealth of college experience thanks to the extra-year COVID-19 exemption, Samarzich believes he understands the science of snapping as well as any of his 2024 fellow classmen.
“Great snappers need a few things,” Samarzich added. “You need to pass the eye test; are you big enough, do you have the right look? You need to be very, very consistent — special teams rely on doing specific things are perfectly as possible.
“Can you get the ball to the same spot, time after time, and for field goals, can you send the ball with the laces exactly where they need to be for the holder?”
One of the most highly-touted snappers to come out of college was 2021 draftee Camaron Cheeseman, who Washington traded up to pick in the sixth round. However, Cheeseman was cut by the Commanders last season after a pair of poor snaps against the Los Angeles Rams.
Samarzich is the godson of Hall of Fame lineman (and long snapper) Bruce Matthews, who starred at USC and at what is now the Tennessee Titans franchise, through its iterations in Houston and as the Oilers. Matthews, a decades-long friend of Samarzich’s father, Dave, has been a valued source of advice.
“Simon has had good role models, and he never stopped working, never stopped improving, and never stopped being true to himself,” Dave Samarzich told me. “I’m biased, obviously, but he’s as authentic a person and a football player as you’ll find.”
Samarzich has one exam remaining to complete his Master’s degree in sports management and hopes to become a coach if his NFL dream does not work out. Having played for three coaches and four special teams coordinators during his time at Pullman, his network is broad.
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Part of the expectation for long snappers is to be a positive and unobtrusive locker room presence, and Samarzich is hoping his good-guy qualities come through. He served on the Cougars’ leadership council and was hugely popular among his teammates.
Football runs in his blood. Father Dave played at Pasadena City College and older brother Christian at Fresno State. Simon’s work ethic also came through from a young age.
“I remember when we were seven or eight, football was always first,” said Tyler Pugmire, Samarzich’s best friend since they were both aged three. “Even as a kid, he could never hang out on Friday evenings because he wanted to be the ball boy for the high school team.
“And if there was football practice on Saturdays, it didn’t matter if you had a birthday party, and you’d booked a bouncy house, he would be practicing throwing the ball between his legs. It is amazing to think now that if I don’t see him for the next couple of months it’s because he’s getting an NFL opportunity and maybe life-changing money. But he deserves all of it.”
That’s a dream shared by many at this time of year as they play the ultimate game of chance, with the pursuit of an NFL spot being all or nothing in its nature.
For Samarzich and those in the same position, this is the tightest of windows with no margins for error. Maybe, just maybe, the right opportunity for a guy whose calling card is exactly that — he doesn’t make errors.
