By BILL DALEY
Associate Editor • @Billykid
All he does is snap a football. But, oh, how he can
snap it!
If one tries to think about the last time a snap went
over a Dolphins punter’s head or one got botched on a
field goal or extra point attempt, keep thinking because
you’re going to spend a long time trying to find one.
Such has been the case for the Miami Dolphins over
the last 13 seasons and the reason for that has been be-
cause of the team’s long snapper, John Denney. Tran-
scending four different coaching changes from Nick
Saban to Tony Sparano to Joe Philbin to Adam Gase,
Denney has been a common thread through it all. An ab-
solute model of consistency and dedication at his very
specialized craft.
After being signed as a rookie free agent defensive
end out of BYU in 2005, he is easily the longest-tenured
Dolphin on the current roster, four years ahead of
Cameron Wake, who arrived in 2009.
When he stepped on to the field against Atlanta a few
weeks ago, he played in his 197th career game with the
Dolphins, surpassing Bob Kuechenberg and moving into
third place in franchise history. If all goes well, he could
surpass Jason Taylor (204) later this season but is still a
ways away from all-time leader Dan Marino at 242.
Denney’s 197 games are also consecutive. He passed
Taylor for the franchise record for that (131) a while ago
(2013) and was fourth in the NFL among current play-
ers as of Oct. 16 behind only Houston punter Shane
Lechler (245), Dallas tight end Jason Witten (225) and
Giants quarterback Eli Manning (206).
“Just ridiculous. I can’t believe I’m still living this
dream,” Denney said when asked to look back at his
long NFL tenure. “Here I was an undrafted guy, hoping
to just get my foot in the door and come out here and
steal a few years and here I am 12 years later still putting
on a jersey on Sundays.”
Denney arrived in South Florida in May 2005 when
rookie head coach Nick Saban signed him as a rookie
free agent after he had spent three seasons as a defen-
sive end and long-snapper at BYU.
“I was trying to do everything I could to just find a
way to make the team,” Denney said. “I always knew
how to snap and had been doing it since eighth grade.
Initially I was getting an opportunity at both (playing de-
fensive end and snapping) but then they started pulling
me out of defensive drills for a few periods and have me
snap more because they knew I could snap. So you’re
doing anything you can to make the team and, as it turned
out, I was a better snapper than I was a defensive end.”
And has he ever gotten impatient over the last 12
years? Perhaps maybe wanting to do a little more than
just snap the football to the punter or holder?
“At first, for sure I wanted to really make it as a de-
fensive end,” Denney said. “Snapping wasn’t my main
focus. Fine, if that’s what it takes, that’s what I’ll do, but
16 Dolphin Digest OCTOBER 28, 2017there was definitely a little part of me that was, ‘Why
are you taking me out of drills and cutting my reps?’ But
in hindsight, I wouldn’t change a thing. I didn’t know
those things at the time, I was chasing a different dream
and this fell into my lap. You get your foot in the door
and then go out and do your job, keep your nose out of
trouble, then they hang on to you.”
Denney began to appreciate just how fortunate he
was. Long-snappers obviously are not every-down play-
ers mixing it up in the trenches and in a sport where the
average shelf life is usually less than five years, that was
huge.
“I was young and naive and didn’t realize how much
potential I had in front of me and how great I had it,”
Denney said. “The fact that I’m not taking much of a toll
on my body physically, especially with all of the studies
that are coming out now, that I’m not in the trenches
every down banging my head against somebody else,
I’m extremely fortunate.”
Just how much he is appreciated and recognized
around the league came into clear focus following the
2010 season when Denney found himself long-snapping
in the Pro Bowl.
“Long-snapper is not a position that’s voted on for
the Pro Bowl but how it works is that whichever coach-ing staff is coaching in the game, they select somebody,”
said Denney.
Asked who selected him, Denney let out a wry smile
and said, “Bill Belichick.”
“That’s where being in the right place at the right time
comes along,” Denney said. “Playing in the same divi-
sion (with the Patriots) all those years and seeing me
twice a year, he got to see me quite a bit and knew me, so
ultimately I guess that’s why I got the call.”
It probably didn’t hurt that Denney already had gained
league-wide respect by that time as being one of the best
at his job. Sure enough, two years later, following the
2012 season, then-Denver had coach John Fox (who did-
n’t play in the same division with him) selected him to
represent the AFC again.
Asked exactly how much longer he could see himself
doing this, Denney got reflective.
“One game at a time, one year at a time,” he said. “It’s
really hard to say how many more years. Realistically,
you look at it and say, this guy is 38 and definitely to-
wards the end of his career, I don’t know how many more
I could go. It’s just ... I’m a byproduct of taking it one sea-
son at a time, one game at a time. All of a sudden, it stacks
up and you’re looking behind you and the whole thing ...
it’s just kind of surreal.”Long-snapper
John Denney is
easily the
longest-tenured
player on the
Dolphins roster.Veteran John Denney continues to get the job done