Longtime Dolphins Snapper Denney Not Ready to Retire

John Denney played the second-most games in Dolphins history, but he's hoping to resume his NFL career at the age of 41

The Dolphins will have a different long-snapper for a third consecutive season in 2020 after they selected LSU's Blake Ferguson in the sixth round of the draft, but the man who held the position longer than anyone is hoping to get back into the NFL.

John Denney didn't play in 2019 after being released by the Dolphins and he turned 41 in December, but he's still looking to land a job in the NFL, according to agent Ian Greengross.

The coronavirus-related restrictions in place have made it impossible for Denney to work out for teams, though he's got a long enough resume that many teams would just need to know he's in a good physical condition.

Based on all the accolades he received during his later years with the Dolphins, that would not seem to be an issue.

Denney, whose brother Ryan had a nine-year NFL career with the Bills and Texans, drew interest from a few teams last year, but didn't snap in the NFL for the first time since 2004.

After making the team as a rookie free agent in 2005 when he beat out incumbent long-snapper Ed Perry, Denney played every game for the Dolphins for the next 14 seasons.

His 224 games played are second in franchise history behind only the 242 games played by Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino. He was selected to the Pro Bowl twice, in 2010 and 2012.

Denney appeared to have made the 53-man roster for a 15th season last summer when he survived the final round of cuts, but the Dolphins made the stunning move two days later of releasing Denney and replacing him with Taybor Pepper, who had just been released by the New York Giants.

"John has done a tremendous job for this organization for a long time," Coach Brian Flores said when asked about the decision to replace Denney. "From a leadership standpoint, from a coming in and working every day standpoint, no one has done more than he has, so I’m very appreciative of the time I spent with him. At the end of the day, we felt like this was a move we needed to make. Again, I’m appreciative of the time I spent with him.”

Denney earned a little more than $1 million in base salary in his final season with the Dolphins, while Pepper's base salary last year was $570,000, according to overthecap.com. Pepper was released April 26, the day after the Dolphins drafted Ferguson.

If he returns to the NFL in 2020, Denney would be the third-oldest player in the league behind only Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri (47) and new Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (42).