Packers sign former Rams long snapper Matt Orzech

Orzech signed a three-year deal with Green Bay

The first outside addition that the Green Bay Packers have made in free agency is the signing of former Los Angeles Rams long snapper Matt Orzech. Orzech’s contract with the Rams expired earlier today, when the new league year began, allowing him to hit unrestricted free agency. Currently, Los Angeles does not have a long snapper on their roster.

Orzech has been on five NFL rosters since he entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Division II’s Azusa Pacific in 2019. He’s snapped in a total of 50 regular season games, with 34 coming in the last two years with the Rams.

This isn’t the first time that the Packers have signed a Los Angeles long snapper. Back in 2021, Green Bay added Steven Wirtel to their practice squad after he failed to make the Rams’ final roster. By midseason, Wirtel replaced Hunter Bradley as the team’s starting long snapper.

Wirtel eventually lost his starting gig in training camp last year to Jack Coco, then a rookie. Coco is who Orzech will apparently be battling this summer for a spot on the 53-man roster.

While the contract details haven’t been completely released, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that Orzech’s deal with the Packers is three years long, clearly giving him the inside lane versus Coco. Coco worked his way up from a rookie mini-camp tryout to becoming the only undrafted free-agent rookie to make the 2022 roster. Like Orzech, Coco was also a tight end at the college level.

According to Spotrac, the most expensive long-snapper contract in the NFL on a per-year basis is the $1.4 million per year that Cleveland’s Charley Hughlett commands. Don’t expect this move to impact Green Bay’s salary cap situation much, even though the team is already stretched thin.