Lawrence Ethan Albright (born May 1, 1971) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point at ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for 16 seasons, 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

. 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 metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

for five seasons, and the

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

and

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

for one season each. Nicknamed The Red Snapper due to his position and his red hair, Albright played college football at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

Early years

Albright attended

Grimsley High School Grimsley Senior High School, also known as Grimsley High School or simply Grimsley, is a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. Formerly known as "Greensboro High School," "Greensboro Central High School," and then "Greensboro Senior ...

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

(1989), and was a standout in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

College career

Albright played

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense (sports), offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide ...

early in his career for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

but later switched to offensive tackle 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 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 contract at present but who is a ...

, 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 September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, 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 (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

following the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

season. He wore the number 21, along with teammates

Chris Cooley Christopher Ken Cooley (born July 11, 1982) is a former American football tight end who played for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Utah State University, and was drafted by the Redsk ...

and

Chris Samuels Chris Samuels (born July 28, 1977) is a former American college and professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the University of Alabama, and w ...

, in honor of their teammate

Sean Taylor Sean Michael Maurice Taylor (April 1, 1983 – November 27, 2007) was an American football safety for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected fifth overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Redskins, where h ...

, 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 John Sifford Denney (born December 13, 1978) is an American football long snapper who is a free agent. He played college football for Brigham Young University (BYU), and was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2005. Ear ...

In popular culture

In 2006, Albright became an

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

for being the lowest-rated NFL player in the video game ''

Madden NFL 07 ''Madden NFL 07'' is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the first in the video game series to debut for the PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles as launch titles and the l ...

'' 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 is currently the athletic director at

, 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