Over the next few months, we’ll be breaking down all of the rookies added by the Jets during the draft and as undrafted free agents. We continue today with long snapper Garrison Grimes.
The 25-year old Grimes is listed at 6’2” and 220 pounds and was a second team all-American last season, after having transferred from Baylor to BYU.
Background
Grimes was a two-time all-state and all-region tight end in high school, where he caught 73 passes for 926 yards in his career and also served as the long snapper.
From there, he headed to Baylor, which has a rich tradition at the long snapper position, to the point where some have referred to it as “Long Snapper U”. Jon Weeks and Ross Matiscik are among those who have snapped there previously.
After redshirting the 2021 season, Grimes was a three-year starter in the long snapper role, then transferred to BYU ahead of the 2025 season.
At BYU, he earned second team all-American honors and was regarded as one of the top prospects at his position when he declared for the 2026 draft.
The Jets signed Grimes as an undrafted free agent, on a contract with just $1,000 in guaranteed money.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Grimes brings to the table, based on in-depth research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Grimes is listed at 225, but actually weighed in at 236 ahead of his pro day workout. He has bulked up considerably since he was a 200-pound high school recruit.
That pro day workout has taken on legendary status, leading to him being referred to as the most athletic long snapper in history, although this requires some context.
That assertion comes from Grimes’ RAS score, which is a metric compiled by draft analyst Kent Lee Platte that takes into account the workout numbers of draft prospects and then compares it to those of previous prospects at that same position. Grimes scores a perfect 10 out of 10 in this category, placing him first in that category.
Obviously there aren’t many workout numbers for long snappers to compare this to, though, so it’s a little hyperbolic to talk about him in those terms. So, let’s instead give it some better context.
The three players on the current Jets roster who are closest to 236 pounds – Grimes’ weight when he compiled his workout numbers – in terms of listed size are running back Braelon Allen, tight end Chase Curtis and linebacker Jaden Keller.
Grimes ran 4.82, posted a 32.5-inch vertical and 115-inch broad jump and managed 22 bench press reps.
Allen posted 26 bench press reps and very similar numbers for broad and vertical, which in theory reflects well on Grimes. However, those jumps were both well below average for the running back position.
Also, Allen famously didn’t do a 40-yard dash because he said he felt it was irrelevant how fast he runs “in his underwear”, but he’s been clocked at 21.3 miles per hour on the field, which supposedly translates to a sub-4.5 time.
Keller’s speed and explosiveness numbers were also significantly better as he outperformed Grimes in each of the jumps by 3-4 inches and also ran a 4.50. His bench press was similar at 21 reps.
Finally, Curtis, who plays Grimes’ old high school position, also ran faster than him at 4.70 with similar explosiveness numbers but just 17 reps.
Ultimately, although Grimes is clearly more athletic than most long snappers, he’s still below average in the context of NFL players generally. Of course, that’s historically been the case with long snappers.
However, the “most athletic long snappers in NFL history” claim unfortunately falls apart when considering Zak DeOssie’s numbers, which aren’t listed among the long snapper dataset because he originally tested as a linebacker. The two-time pro bowl long snapper ran a 4.58 at 248 pounds while posting 26 bench press reps and superior jumps.
Nevertheless, Grimes’ ability to get downfield well shows up on film and he obviously is athletic enough to play at this level. He may need to bulk up a little more, though.
Usage
Grimes has only played as a long snapper during his college career, despite having also been a productive tight end in high school. As is the case with most other long snappers, he wasn’t risked in any other role, including kickoff coverage.
Snapping
Snapping the ball accurately and efficiently is clearly the most important role a long snapper can have. The experts in this field praise the accuracy and speed of Grimes’ snaps and analysis site Pro Football Focus confirmed that they didn’t grade any of his 114 long snaps in 2025 negatively. You can see from his game film that most of his snaps are bullseyes.
He wasn’t perfect over the course of his career though with occasional punt snaps that were slightly off-line or short, including one low snap that the punter had to bend down to scoop up, almost leading to a block – although there was a flag on the play anyway.
He also had this notably bad snap that led directly to a missed field goal while he was at Baylor.
Blocking
Blocking is not a major function of the long snapper’s role, as their main priority is to get the ball back quickly and accurately. However, they do need to be alert to interior rushes at times.
Grimes wasn’t challenged too often in these situations on punts, often just running downfield as quickly as he could rather than staying in to slow up a rusher.
This play, which likely would have been a penalty anyway under NFL rules, saw Grimes allow interior pressure that led to a block and ultimately a return for a touchdown.
At BYU, they ran a handful of fakes on punts and field goals and Grimes was required to carry out a run blocking assignment on most of these. On one, he executed a double team block with the right guard which allowed the holder to run for a first down over the left side.
Coverage
Grimes racked up five tackles and also recovered two fumbles during his college career with his ability to hustle downfield effectively. He also downed some punts.
Those two fumbles both came in the same game against Texas and each saw him dive on a muffed punt opportunistically.
You can see here how Grimes gets downfield well but remains under control so he can break down and make the stop.
As noted, Grimes would often just snap the ball and run downfield immediately rather than staying in to block. When he did this, he was usually unblocked but in situations where opposing teams schemed against this and left someone in the middle of the field to block him, he often got held up.
On this play he takes an over-aggressive angle and enables the return man to cut back and avoid his tackle attempt for some extra yardage.
Here’s another example of Grimes getting downfield well and then closing on the return man to get in on the tackle.
Instincts/Intelligence
Grimes had a solid GPA in high school and went on to earn first team academic all-Big 12 honors in 2022, along with a spot on the commissioner’s honor roll.
His father is Jeff Grimes, who is the current Wisconsin offensive coordinator and coached at Baylor in the same role from 2021 to 2023 while his son was on the team. As a coach’s son, Grimes is regarded as coachable.
Attitude/Demeanor
When he was at Baylor, Grimes was praised by head coach Dave Aranda for his maturity, work ethic and care factor in terms of details and preparation.
Grimes, who is a man of faith and was a high school captain, does admit that he and the other specialists “goofed off” at times early in his career, leading to dumb mistakes, but noted that they took things more seriously and saw positive outcomes from that in 2024.
As noted above, he recovered two fumbles in a rivalry game against Texas, the second of which sparked a wild celebration on the sideline with a large group of other special teamers jumping up and down around him. While this speaks to the fact that he’s obviously a popular teammate, Baylor was actually losing 38-6 at the time, so such over-exuberance was arguably inappropriate.
Nobody seems to have made a big deal over that and it likely wasn’t of major significance but perhaps this is one of the things Grimes was talking about in terms of goofing off and making mistakes.
Injuries
In 2023, Grimes suffered a torn ACL in the fifth game of the year and missed the rest of the season. He started all of 2024, though, and it doesn’t seem to have impacted him since.
Scheme Fit
You probably wouldn’t consider systems to have much significance for your long snapper generally speaking, but the main concern arising out of Grimes’ film would be that he will have more blocking responsibilities at the NFL level with the different rules leading to differences between the protection schemes employed. As a result, he might need to bulk up and work on that area more.
He was a teammate of two of the other undrafted rookie signings for the Jets; kicker Will Ferrin and cornerback Mo Bamba. Ferrin was already released though.
While he was redshirting at Baylor in 2021, Grimes was also a teammate of current Jets offensive lineman Xavier Newman.
Conclusions
Grimes was one of the more interesting undrafted rookie signings for the Jets this year, but in order to win a role with the Jets, he would have to oust the longest-tenured Jet, Thomas Hennessy.
It may soon be time for the Jets to move on from Hennessy, who will be 33 at the start of the 2027 season and Grimes represents a potential long-term answer because it is felt by many he has an NFL future.
However, if the Jets opt to groom him to be Hennessy’s successor via a spot on the practice squad, there is a danger he could be poached during the season if there is an injury or a performance-based cut elsewhere around the NFL at that position.
While we shouldn’t overreact to the whole “best athlete ever” discussion, Grimes does have good tools and the dedication to compete hard for a long-term role so it will be interesting to see if he sticks.
