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If there’s been one position the Detroit Lions haven’t had to worry about for over a decade, it’s been the spot of long snapper. Don Muhlbach has locked the spot down since 2004, and he doesn’t plan on that changing just yet.
Nearing the end of the 2020 season, Muhlbach is still planning on playing again next year, but naturally, he has to sit down and talk things over with his family. As he said, he wants the Lions to turn things around before he decides to hang it up and call it a career.
Speaking with the media, Muhlbach admits he was pushed hard by last year’s undrafted free agent Steven Wirtel, but he ended up pulling out the job for yet another season in Detroit. The fact that the longest tenured player on the Lions wants to come back is great for the team, and it will be interesting to see where the offseason goes for Muhlbach.
Count on him being ready if the time comes, though, just as he has always been. It seemed impossible at the time that Muhlbach’s career would last this long, but he has become a staple of a solid special teams group with the Lions.
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What to do at long snapper is hardly the biggest concern for the team’s next general manager. Detroit will have decisions to make across the roster including at quarterback, wideout, defensive back and along the defensive line. Should Muhlbach decide to retire, though, it will open another hole on a team that can ill-afford one at this point in time. Perhaps the best thing would be for Muhlbach to stay if he decides, allowing the team to more confidently fill out other needs and remain confident in their abilities to get snaps.
All of that will depend on if Muhlbach wants to return or not, however.
Don Muhlbach Biography
The former Texas A&M product broke into. the league as an undrafted free agent in 2004. Though he started his career with the Baltimore Ravens, he has been the Detroit snapper ever since and has seen plenty along the way, both good and bad. He witnessed the Lions go 0-16 in 2008, but then was there as they returned to the playoffs in 2011, 2014 and 2017. While he’s never won a title or an NFC North, the rally cry for the team could become win one for Muhlbach these next few years if he continues to stick it out on the field for the team.
Muhlbach has been a Pro Bowler a pair of times in his career, in 2012 and 2018. He’s also been the team’s nominee for the Art Rooney Award before, which shows the class that Muhlbach has on the field and the respect he has across the league for what he does.
The hope for Lions fans is that Muhlbach decides to give it another go and can compete for that long-awaited success he hasn’t seen in Detroit.
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