The NFL preseason schedule for 2024 began this week, and Carson Tinker was not on any league rosters. However, the Alabama alumni has been in similar situations previously and has handled lengthy snapping for an NFL team throughout the season.
But that won’t happen this year, as Tinker announced his retirement from the NFL on Sunday via social media.
“Eleven years ago, one of my favorite coaches encouraged me to commit myself to a ‘impossible’ goal,” tweeted Tinker. “Through triumphs and defeats, injuries, championships, rejections, and opportunities that only God could provide, I was able to reach my seemingly unattainable objective of 10 seasons in the NFL.
“Today, with a full heart, I’d like to formally declare it my career.
“Thank you to Annie and Hootie for following me all over the country, my teammates for inspiring me to be the best version of myself, my coaches for teaching me lessons I’ll remember for the rest of my life, fans, trainers, cafeteria, equipment, turf guys, janitors, and anyone else I’ve met along the way; I hope you know who you are and I hope to thank you again in person.
“Thank you, Football. I gave this game everything I had, and it offered my family and me more than I could have hoped for.”
Tinker handled snapping for the Los Angeles Rams during their final four regular-season games and one playoff game last season after regular snapper Alex Ward suffered a stinger in the Rams’ 37-31 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 10.
Tinker’s career total now stands at 99 regular-season and two playoff games.
Tinker, who was the long snapper for Alabama’s 2011 and 2012 BCS national championship teams, signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted rookie in 2023. From 2013 to 2016, he was in charge of all long snaps for the Jaguars.
Tinker spent the 2017 season on injured reserve after injuring the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during training camp. Tinker rejoined the Jaguars in 2018, however five games into the season, he sustained another knee injury and missed the rest of the season.
Tinker was released by Jacksonville with one season remaining on a four-year, $3.65 million contract deal, and he was out of football in 2019. He joined the New York Giants’ practice squad in 2020.
Tinker snapped for the Buccaneers from the second to the ninth game of 2021, as Tampa Bay’s normal long snapper, Zach Triner, recovered from an injury incurred in the season opener. Tinker subsequently played one game for the Las Vegas Raiders on December 5, with usual long snapper Trent Sieg on reserve due to COVID-19 for the week.
Tinker ended the 2021 season with the Rams, helping them win Super Bowl LVI by defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20. Tinker worked as Matthew Orzech’s security guard but was never needed in a game. From December 28, 2021 to February 1, 2022, the Rams waived Tinker from their practice squad six times and filled the open roster space with a position player for practice. However, before each game, Los Angeles re-signed Tinker to have him available in case Orzech became injured.
Tinker joined the Seattle Seahawks five days before the season opener in 2022, after regular long snapper Tyler Ott was sidelined with a shoulder ailment, and he played all 17 games.
Tinker was in Alabama when a tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa and other parts of the state on April 27, 2011. Tinker was torn from his home by the storm and suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured wrist. Ashley Harrison, his girlfriend at the time, was also killed.
Afterward, the Alabama football team helped bring the town together, both via outreach and on the field, as the Crimson Tide won the BCS national championship in 2011. In 2011, the Alabama football team received the Disney’s Wide World of Sports Spirit Award during the annual college football awards presentation, which Tinker accepted on behalf of his coaches and teammates.
Tinker published “A Season to Remember: Faith in the Midst of the Storm,” a book on his experiences with the tornado, rebuilding, and championship season.
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