Evan Deckers (born February 23, 1999) is an American professional football long snapper for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UMass Minutemen and Duke Blue Devils.
| No. 86 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Long snapper | ||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Born: | February 23, 1999 Avon, Connecticut, U.S. | ||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||
| Weight: | 252 lb (114 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| High school: | Avon Old Farms (Avon, Connecticut) | ||||
| College: | UMass (2018–2021) Duke (2022) | ||||
| Undrafted: | 2023 | ||||
| Career history | |||||
| |||||
| Roster status: | Active | ||||
| Career NFL statistics as of Week 3, 2024 | |||||
| |||||
Early life
editDeckers was born on February 23, 1999, in Avon, Connecticut.[1] He attended high school at Avon Old Farms, where he won 10 varsity letters, competing in golf, football, basketball, hockey and squash.[2] With the football team, he played as a center, long snapper and quarterback, being ranked a 4.5-star long snapper by Kohl's Kicking.[2] He was ranked a two-star recruit at long snapper by both Rivals.com and 247Sports and signed to play college football for the UMass Minutemen in February 2018.[3][4][5]
College career
editDeckers was one of the two main long snappers for UMass as a true freshman in 2018, appearing in all 12 games.[2] He played in all 12 games in 2019, recording two tackles, and in all four games during the 2020 season.[2] He was named to the Patrick Mannelly Award watchlist and to Phil Steele's Preseason All-Independent first-team entering the 2021 season, in which he appeared in all 12 games while tallying two tackles.[2][6][7] He was named to Phil Steele's All-Independent second team at the end of the season and graduated from UMass in December 2021 with a degree in kinesiology.[8]
Deckers opted to transfer to the Duke Blue Devils for a final season of college football in 2022, ending his stint at UMass having appeared in 40 games.[8][9] He played in all 13 games for Duke in 2022, helping the team convert 17 of 24 field goal attempts and all 52 extra point attempts.[10] He received a master's degree in management studies from Duke's Fuqua School of Business.[11] In his collegiate career, he played 53 games, helping his teams convert 44 of 60 field goals and 154 of 158 extra points, while being named Academic All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and to the National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honors Society in his last season.[10]
Professional career
edit| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 2+7⁄8 in (1.90 m) |
245 lb (111 kg) |
31+1⁄4 in (0.79 m) |
9+7⁄8 in (0.25 m) |
5.15 s | 1.88 s | 2.89 s | 4.65 s | 7.87 s | 28.0 in (0.71 m) |
8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) |
10 reps | |
| All values from Pro Day[12] | ||||||||||||
After going unselected in the 2023 NFL draft, Deckers signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent.[13] He competed with Zach Triner for the team's long snapping job and was waived on August 29, 2023.[14] After Triner was injured, Deckers signed with the Buccaneers practice squad on December 13, 2023.[15][16] He was released six days later, on December 19, without having appeared in a game.[1][17] After the season, he signed a reserve/future contract with the Buccaneers on January 30, 2024.[18] He beat out Triner for the team's long snapper job in 2024, but suffered a hamstring injury in Week 3 and was placed on injured reserve.[19][20] He was activated on November 9.
References
edit- ^ a b "Evan Deckers Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
- ^ a b c d e "Evan Deckers". UMass Minutemen.
- ^ "Evan Deckers 2018 Offensive Center". Rivals.com.
- ^ "Evan Deckers, Avon Old Farms, Long Snapper". 247Sports.
- ^ "Football Recruiting - Evan Deckers - Player Profiles". ESPN.
- ^ "Minutemen Quartet Tabbed Phil Steele Preseason All-Independent". UMass Minutemen. June 28, 2021.
- ^ "Deckers Named to Patrick Mannelly Award Watch List". UMass Minutemen. August 9, 2021.
- ^ a b Clark, Chris (January 20, 2022). "Duke adds graduate long snapper". WNCN.
- ^ Rowe, Adam (January 8, 2022). "Duke lands grad transfer Evan Deckers from UMass". 247Sports.
- ^ a b "Evan Deckers". Duke Blue Devils.
- ^ "Deckers Joins Tampa Bay Buccaneers as Undrafted Free Agent". Duke Blue Devils. April 30, 2023.
- ^ "Evan Decker College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
- ^ Rowe, Adam (April 30, 2023). "Duke Football LS Evan Deckers signs UDFA deal with Tampa Bay Bucs". 247Sports.
- ^ Wells, River (August 27, 2023). "Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster cut tracker". USA Today.
- ^ Wells, River (December 12, 2023). "Bucs sign long-snapper Evan Deckers back to practice squad". USA Today.
- ^ Stroud, Rick; Ackert, Katie (December 13, 2023). "Bucs' injury bug bites long-snapper Zach Triner, others". Tampa Bay Times.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Evan Deckers Transactions & Injuries". sportsforecaster.com.
- ^ Smith, Scott (January 30, 2024). "Bucs Add Four More to 2024 Roster on Futures Contracts". Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
- ^ Stroud, Rick (August 25, 2024). "Bucs to release longtime long snapper, son of former Buccaneer and others". Tampa Bay Times.
- ^ Smith, Scott (September 24, 2024). "Bucs Re-Sign LS Zach Triner, Make Practice Squad Moves". Buccaneers.com.