Long snappers don’t make a lot of pre-draft visits because long snappers are rarely drafted. And players from service academies don’t make a lot of pre-draft visits because players from service academies have military commitments that often keep them from starting their NFL careers right away.
But Chip Kelly’s team does things differently.
Navy long snapper Joe Cardona will visit the Eagles next week, the Baltimore Sun reports. Cardona was the only long snapper at the Combine and performed well there, with 30 reps on the 225-pound bench press, a 33-inch vertical and a 4.91-second 40-yard dash.
That athleticism may appeal to Kelly, who has long been fascinated by Navy training methods. One of Kelly’s first moves after becoming the Eagles’ head coach was to hire a Navy SEALs trainer and give him the title of sports science coordinator.
If the Eagles draft Cardona, he’ll be the first player from Navy drafted in two decades, and one of only a handful of players in NFL history drafted specifically to be a long snapper.
