FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots signed long snapper Brian Kinchen today. The team subsequently announced that long snapper Sean McDermott has been placed on the Reserve / Injured list.
Kinchen, 38, has spent the last two seasons out of football since playing for the Carolina Panthers in 2000. In 13 NFL seasons, the tight end/long snapper has played in 191 games with 65 starts for Miami (1988-90), Cleveland (1991-95), Baltimore (1996-98) and Carolina (1999-2000). The 6-foot-2-inch, 240-pound native of Baton Rouge, La., has recorded 160 receptions for 1,648 yards and seven touchdowns as a tight end. The Louisiana State product set career highs in 1996, when he started all 16 games for the Baltimore Ravens and recorded 55 receptions for 581 yards and a touchdown. Kinchen previously played for Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick when Belichick held the head job in Cleveland from 1991-95.
McDermott, 27, is in his third NFL season and played in one game for the Patriots this season, handling the long snapping duties in the Patriots' 27-13 win over Jacksonville on Dec. 14. He was signed by the Patriots on Dec. 10, 2003. In his three-year NFL career, he has played in 38 games, including the first five contests of 2003 with the Miami Dolphins. The 6-foot-4-inch, 250-pound native of Lufkin, Texas, spent the 2002 season with the Houston Texans, where he played in all 16 games and snapped for every punt, field goal and PAT. In his rookie season in 2001, the Kansas University product handled all of the long snapping duties for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
