CINCINNATI (WXIX) - William Wagner, the challenger in the Cincinnati Bengals’ long snapping position battle, is such an accurate snapper that he can “easily” spin the bottle cap off of a Gatorade bottle.
“It’ll probably just take me two tries,” Wagner said.
He makes for a formidable foe for incumbent Cal Adomitis, who has been the team’s long snapper since 2022.
It’s been a true position battle with Wagner and Adomitis rotating with the first team. After a tough season for the field goal operation in 2024, the Bengals brought in some competition for Adomitis.
“We all looked at our field goal operation and felt like we could do a better job,” Adomitis. “That’s an area I wasn’t as strong in as I would have liked to have been.”
Adomitis has a good fastball, his blocking has never seemed to be much of a concern, he has been great on punt snaps and he has even tried high-level tricks like pretending to set up a punt in one direction and then bluffing to set up a punt going the other way. He also hasn’t had an unplayable field goal snap in the NFL
There’s one big thing that he needs to work on that can make Evan McPherson’s life easier: Lace control.
“When Evan sees the ball on the ground and no need for the holder to spin it at all, it gives him a more stationary target and makes it easier on him,” Adomitis said. “That’s what I control. That’s what I’m trying to get better at.
“It’s a lot of feel. One of the things I’ve learned over the years is you have a general idea of where your laces should be. At the same time, every day is a new challenge whether it be hotter, colder, rainier or windier. It’s about adapting and having the confidence to make minor tweaks to get things where they need to be without over complicating it.”
Wagner, an undrafted free agent out of Michigan, says that lace control is his biggest strength.
“It’s like a chip from 10 yards,” Wagner said. “You just have to be fluid with it. It’s just reps and feeling. I always put it in golf terms. How do you know to hit a 70-yard shot vs. a 50-yard shot vs. a 58? Practice. That’s it.”
Wagner said that he needs to work on the accuracy of his deeper snaps as well as his blocking. His college scheme had him running professional style protection concepts, but he’s a smaller guy who recognizes that he’s never going to be the most effective blocker, which is a part of the job.
Holder Ryan Rehkow is also a part of the conversation here. He’s an excellent punter, but holding has been an area that he has really been working on. Consistent lace control can help make his life a lot easier on field goal kicks, and he’s also working on improving the consistency of his own technique.
Rehkow said that while there are differences between Adomitis’ snaps and Wagner’s snaps, his job is to make sure that McPherson can’t notice that difference.
“The main thing for me as a holder is being able to slow everything down, make everything as simple as possible and make sure that Evan doesn’t have to think about anything,” Rehkow said. “For me, that’s getting more comfortable with all types of snaps and all types of placement on the laces. Then the tempo of everything. Making sure I get the ball down fast and in control.”
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