Buccaneers add long-snapper Dax Dellenbach

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fixed one gaping hole on their roster: that of long-snapper. They signed Florida State’s Dax Dellenbach, who was with the Bucs in there rookie mini-camp last year.

The Bucs lost their long-time longsnapper Andrew DePaola to a knee injury in the final game of the 2016 season, and he’s set to hit free agency. That means the Bucs need a replacement, and Dellenbach might be the person they need.

Dellenbach was Florida State’s longsnapper from 2010 through 2012, and has been trying out with various NFL teams since then without sticking anywhere. That’s not uncommon for longsnappers, with few positions opening up every year. Mostly, longsnappers are fairly interchangeable — as long as they meet a minimum level of competence and stay healthy, they’ll hang around an NFL team for a very long time.

We’ll see whether that’s what happens with Dellenbach, or they find some other player to do it instead later this offseason. Time will tell.