Ravens won’t retain long snapper Morgan Cox for 2021 season originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Wolfpack is no more.
The Ravens have made the “difficult” choice to move on from long snapper Morgan Cox, general manager Eric DeCosta confirmed on Monday.
The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec was the first to report the news.
Cox, 34, is a pending free agent and has been with the team for 11 years. This season, he was named the first Associated Press All-Pro long snapper, the first time the position was ever honored.
“It’s almost the circle of life, at times, and you have to continue to get younger as a team,” DeCosta said. “As you all know, we had Nick Moore, and we kept Nick on the practice squad most the year, and he had a chance to snap in a game for us. He’s a younger player, and we felt that, although it was very, very difficult to move on from Morgan, it was probably something that we needed to do, long-term. And so, we made that transaction last week.”
Cox is the second veteran the Ravens have let go in the last week, as they released running back Mark Ingram last week in order to save money on the salary cap. Now, they’ve moved on from Cox to get younger at the position.
Long snapper Nick Moore will be the team’s new long snapper where he’ll join kicker Justin Tucker and punter Sam Koch in one of the best and most consistent kicking units in league history. Both Koch and Tucker have repeatedly called Cox the best long snapper in the NFL.
“It’s tough, because in my opinion, Morgan has been, really, one of the better Ravens of the last 11 years,” DeCosta continued. “His attitude, he’s overcome some injuries, his performance, just his general demeanor, his ability every single day to come in and be a leader, and his attitude, and just the way that he practices, and his personality. We’ve been blessed for many, many years now with ‘The Wolfpack,’ with Morgan, with Sam, with Justin, to have, probably, the best combination of punter, long snapper and kicker in the league. And things change, unfortunately.”
Cox was always cherished in the Ravens’ locker room, not just for his consistent long snapping, but for his character and leadership.
“It’s a tough part of this business,” DeCosta said. “But Morgan, his class, his performance, just everything about him, will be missed and cherished in many ways, and I will think of him as the best long snapper in Baltimore Ravens history. As good as he is as a long snapper, he’s a better teammate and a better guy.”
