Lawrence Ethan Albright (born May 1, 1971) nicknamed "the Red Snapper" due to his position and his red hair, is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

long snapper In gridiron football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a Center (gridiron football), center on American football positions#Special teams, special teams whose duty is to Snap (gridiron football), snap the football over a longer distance, ty ...

for 16 seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), primarily with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

. From 1995 to 2010, he was a member of the Redskins for nine seasons, the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

for five seasons, and the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

and

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

for one season each. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

Early life

Albright attended Grimsley High School in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

(1989), and was a standout in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

College career

Albright played

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

early in his career for the

but later switched to

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

and was named First-team All-ACC at that position in 1993. Albright also handled the long snapping duties for the Tar Heels.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

Albright began as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, but later signed with the

, playing 10 games during the 1995 season.

Buffalo Bills

Albright signed for the

in 1996. He played 16 games in every season between 1996 and 2000.

Washington Redskins

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, he signed with the Redskins. On March 3, 2005, he was re-signed by the team. Albright was named to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

following the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

season. He wore the number 21, along with teammates Chris Cooley and Chris Samuels, in honor of their teammate Sean Taylor, who was killed during the 2007 season. Albright was re-signed by the Redskins, keeping him away from the free agent market, on February 19, 2008. On February 13, 2009, Albright re-signed with the

. On September 28, 2010, Albright signed with the

. He was released two weeks later on October 13. Following his retirement from the league, Albright set the record for the most consecutive starts by a long snapper at 230 and the most consecutive regular season starts at 224, the latter of which has been tied by John Denney.

In popular culture

In 2006, Albright became an

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

for being the lowest-rated NFL player in the video game '' Madden NFL 07'' at 53 out of 99. The low rating was made popular by the now-defunct website Phat Phree and gained further traction after Albright received

honors the following year.ESPN.com: Page 2 : Meet Madden's Mr. Irrelevant
/ref>

Personal life

Albright and his wife, Katherine, have two daughters and two sons: Mary Grace, Madelyn Costner, Lawson Geoffrey and Nolan Davis; they reside in his hometown of

. He retired as the athletic director at Grimsley High School, his alma mater.

References

External links

*
Washington Redskins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albright, Ethan 1971 births Living people Players of American football from Greensboro, North Carolina American football offensive tackles American football centers American football long snappers National Conference Pro Bowl players North Carolina Tar Heels football players Miami Dolphins players Green Bay Packers players Buffalo Bills players Washington Redskins players San Diego Chargers players Grimsley High School alumni