Ross Matiscik has turned the most invisible job in football into a pretty good life.
The Jacksonville Jaguars long snapper just landed a two-year, $3.8 million deal, a contract that made him the highest-paid long snapper in NFL history. Around the same time, he and his wife Allison announced they’re expecting their first child, due in mid-November. For a player whose work is supposed to disappear into the background, the offseason has been anything but quiet.
Matiscik has already built a career that stands out in the only way a long snapper really can: by never being noticed for the wrong reason. He has been named to three Pro Bowls, and he has run onto the field for Jacksonville 769 times in six NFL seasons. On each of those snaps, the job was the same - get the ball back cleanly and keep the operation moving.
That’s the part outsiders rarely appreciate.
"Nobody really knows that you've done your job because it's just become so routine," said the Baylor graduate, who is entering his seventh year in the NFL. "You don't get the trophies when you do your job."
He may not get much public credit, but Matiscik still has a clear sense of where the payoff comes from. It’s in watching kicker Cam Little hit field goals, seeing punter Logan Cooke continue to build his case as statistically the NFL’s best punter in history in terms of net yardage, and watching special teams coach Heath Farwell get rewarded too.
"When I see Cam hitting those field goals, or when I see Logan get a new contract, or [special teams coach] Heath [Farwell] get a new contract, those are the wins that I care about," Matiscik said. "Because at the end of the day, it's about those guys. I'll live in the shadows for those guys to shine."
He also pointed to Jacksonville’s 13-4 season and second playoff trip as a different kind of reward. That kind of success hits differently when you remember where it started.
"My rookie year, 2020, the COVID year, we went 1-15," he said. "To win 13 like that … that's sweet. That's something to hold your head high on and just build off of going forward."
The financial piece of the offseason was nice, but Matiscik sounds just as happy talking about the life around the job. He likes fishing.
He likes playing golf with Cooke and Little. He likes staying in Jacksonville.
And after six seasons with the Jaguars, he’s still here after working under Doug Marrone, Urban Meyer, Doug Pederson and Liam Coen.
"I would have never imagined my career would have turned out this way," he said. "I just wanted to make the team, be here.
And six years later - me and Logan were talking about their day the other day - that 2020 season with COVID, how unique that season was, and you know how it all goes by so fast. It really does.
We're on year seven now. Logan's on nine.
It goes by quick. But it's been a blessing to be in Jacksonville with a great group of guys."
The snap count tells the story too. Matiscik has sent the ball back to Cooke as the punter or holder 382 times on punts, 187 times on field goals and 200 times on conversions, with no bad snaps. Cooke’s size and hands help - he’s 6-foot-5 and can handle a ball that comes a little high, wide or low - and Matiscik is quick to credit that trust.
"[No.] 9 is my security blanket back there," Matiscik said of Cooke. "We just have chemistry."
That chemistry matters because Matiscik does more than just snap and disappear. He’s been a factor on punt coverage throughout his career, with 15 unassisted tackles, seven assists, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. In 2023, he led all NFL long snappers with eight unassisted tackles, which was also a Jaguars best on special teams.
The athleticism makes sense when you look at his background. Matiscik was an all-state middle linebacker at McKinney (Texas) Boyd High School and a backup linebacker at Baylor. At 6 feet and 240 pounds, he has enough size to mix it up and enough movement skills to get downfield and finish plays.
The rules protect long snappers from getting buried or jumped on, but Matiscik still has to snap the ball, fight through traffic and get himself into the play. He’s made a habit of doing exactly that.
"Run and avoid contact ... just try to hit somebody," he said. "Squirt out of there and get going."
For the Jaguars, that’s been the formula for a long time. For Matiscik, it’s turned into a contract, a family milestone and a career that has gone far beyond what he first imagined.
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