Green Bay Packers: Odds of remaining free agents returning

Brett Goode

Many people might not even know who Goode is. Can’t really blame them though; I mean, how many people actually pay attention to who is their team’s long snapper?

For those who don’t know, Goode has been the Packers’ primary long snapper since 2008 (also known as Aaron Rodgers’ first year as Green Bay’s starting quarterback); that makes him one of the longest-tenured players on the team.

During his time working in that role, you would be hard-pressed to find a single instance of him having a negative play (trust me, I’ve tried; long snappers are hard enough to find newsworthy info on, much less guys who don’t outright cause their team to lose). The lack of negative news doesn’t mean he’s great necessarily, but it also doesn’t really give you much reason to really spend any efforts looking for a replacement.

What does cause a team to look elsewhere in this situation would be something out of the player’s hands: injury.

Goode tore up his knee late in the season, which forced the Packers to scramble for someone else to try and step in. They found that in Rick Lovato. There may have been some initial worry on the outside when this former sandwich maker (that’s what he was doing for work when the Packers gave him a call) was tabbed as the guy to step in for the steady Goode, but he erased those qualms pretty quick. By erased, I mean we didn’t hear anything about him again (which, as I mentioned, tends to be a good omen for a long snapper).

Lovato isn’t exactly an upgrade on Goode, but he’s been good enough that the difference seems pretty negligible between the two. He’s also currently under contract already, which helps; the money wouldn’t be high for either, but just having to not worry about any negotiations/etc. takes out a possible roadblock to a return for him.

That also has the dual effect of putting up a possible roadblock to a return for Goode. Even if the team really likes him, there is no pressing need to bring him back, and barring injury that is unlikely to change. With his knee injury coming late in the year, he may not even be ready to return if the team would prefer having him in this spot.

With everything taken into account, it doesn’t appear as if a return is in the cards.

Odds of return: 5%

Next: Andrew Quarless