Colts make Luke Rhodes the highest-paid long snapper in NFL
INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts have locked up a key member of their special teams unit through the 2027 season.
Indianapolis has made Luke Rhodes the highest-paid player at his position in NFL history, according to his agent, Evan Brennan, by signing the eighth-year veteran to a four-year deal reportedly worth $6.465 million, including a $1.1 million signing bonus and $2.5 million guaranteed.
By signing his deal, Rhodes leapfrogs over New Orleans long snapper Zach Wood, who recently signed a four-year deal worth $6.31 million overall, and likely ensures Indianapolis has the highest-paid group of specialists in the NFL.
The Colts made Matt Gay the league's second-highest-paid kicker in free agency this spring, signing him to a four-year deal that averages $5.625 million per year, and punter Rigoberto Sanchez is the seventh-highest-paid kicker in the NFL, averaging $2.9 million per year.
The Colts have long valued Rhodes, who arrived in Indianapolis as a linebacker in 2016, converted to long snapper in 2017 and won the job outright over Thomas Hennessy.
He’s played in every one of 100 games since then (97 regular-season games, three playoff games), steady as a rock for a special teams unit that has been through uncertainty at kicker and injuries to Rigoberto Sanchez at punter.
The deal for Rhodes is somewhat notable, given that general manager Chris Ballard has said previously that he’s hesitant to hand out extensions to eligible players, most notably running back Jonathan Taylor, after the team collapsed to 4-12-1 last season.
“I talked about all this at training camp,” Ballard said about Taylor’s contract last week. “The way the season went, where we were at and where we were going forward, a new coaching staff, we had some reasons. Nothing major, but there were reasons. We thought we needed to just sit tight.”
Taylor is obviously not the only player headed into the final year of his contract. Wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and nose tackle Grover Stewart lead the list of other Colts who might be in line for an extension.
“There’s a lot of guys that are up that are going to be working on their last year,” Ballard said. “I don’t ever talk about contracts and where we’re going. Those things work out over time, and you’ll know whenever they happen, usually.”
Long snapping, though, is not a position that likely requires a coach’s evaluation.
While it is a highly specialized skill that requires a master to handle it—a good long snapper can make sure a holder rarely has to spin the ball to get the laces out, for example—the requirements typically don’t vary from coach to coach.
Rhodes has long been one of the NFL’s best, and his history as a linebacker makes him arguably the best tackler at the position in the league, leading to a first-team All-Pro nod in 2021.
Now, the Colts have him locked up through the 2027 season.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts make Luke Rhodes the highest-paid long snapper in NFL
