before specialization, the long snapper often was a player who primarily played another position, mostly assumed to be backup centers because they perform regular snap duties to quarterbacks, and also to quarterbacks positioned further out in a shotgun formation. however, a recent example would be allen aldridge, who started at linebacker for the detroit lions and also served as the team's long snapper. this allowed the team to dress another non-specialist player. now, every team in the nfl has a specialized long snapper.