GREEN BAY, Wis. -- For the first time in eight years, the Green Bay Packers will have someone other than Brett Goode snapping on punts and placekicks.
The trusty veteran long snapper was placed on injured reserve on Monday.
According to his agent, Kevin Gold, Goode sustained a torn ACL during the first quarter of Sunday’s win at Oakland. Goode appeared to reach for his right knee after an extra-point kick but it's possible it could have happened before that while Goode was covering one of the two first-quarter punts. Either way, he finished the game and wanted to try to keep playing the rest of the season with a brace, Gold said. Instead, he will undergo reconstructive surgery next week.
The Packers replaced him with rookie Rick Lovato of Old Dominion. Lovato was one of five specialists, including two long snappers, who worked out for the team on Friday. The other snapper was Sam Rodgers of Syracuse.
Lovato has never snapped in an NFL regular-season game. He signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted rookie in May and was released on Aug. 31. He was Old Dominion’s long snapper for all 50 games from 2011 to 2014.
Goode, 31, has been as consistent as any NFL snapper since he joined the Packers in 2008. He was a last-minute replacement for an injured J.J. Jansen, who sustained a knee injury in the preseason finale. The Packers stuck with Goode even after Jansen returned healthy the following year. They traded Jansen to Carolina in 2009.
Goode is in the final year of a three-year, $2.715 million contract. He is scheduled to become a free agent in March.
