CARD: Panini UT 2015
ACQUIRED: 2022, Gift

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

• Cullen played high school football in Texas, so he grew up wanting to play for the University of Texas.
• Declining scholarships to other schools, he opted to walk on at UT in 1999.
• Worked his way into the lineup as a longsnapper, while moonlighting at TE graduating in 2004.
• Free agent signee of the Minnesota Vikings that year, and he quickly became the team’s starting longsnapper.
• Cullen held the position down until 2010, when a back injury sidelined him.
• Returned to the Vikings and played for the team through 2014.
• He’d retire after being cut in 2015.

NOTES:

Longsnappers hold a certain ‘lunchpail’ lore to fans of football. The most unsung skilled player position in the NFL, if you don’t have someone who can 100% snap that ball from the line of scrimmage to a punter or holder’s hands, you’re taking a risk at it being blocked. As such, the position has become a sort of ironman position in the league. It’s not a glorified $20 million dollar a year job- as such, these guys once they get locked in, many of them play 10-15 seasons easy for the franchise, exclusively doing longsnapping.

My friend Mark has sort of cornered the market on Cullen. Apparently he has mutual acquaintances through him and was able to get this autograph on an off and on set need for me.