Saints Wire’s Jeremy Trottier had the amazing opportunity to speak with long-snapper Zach Wood the evening before the New Orleans Saints took on the Cleveland Browns in Week 11. Wood is a longtime member of the Saints and one of the best at his position across the league, which has given him some incredible insight into the game of football and his fellow teammates over the years. Out of everyone on the roster, only Cameron Jordan has played in more games for New Orleans than Wood has.
This interview allowed us to gain a better understanding of the long-snapper position, what the promotion of Darren Rizzi has been like internally for the team and many other topics regarding both the Saints and Wood’s life on and off the field. So without further ado, let’s get right into the interview:
SW: When you started your career, you were a defensive lineman and you followed that through all the way up to your time with the Dallas Cowboys. When did you ultimately decide long-snapping was something you wanted to do, and was there someone who thought you should pursue that or was it just a personal choice?
Wood: “Well I guess it started off with my dad kinda making me do it when I was young. I didn’t really wanna do it, I was all in on defensive line, but he was telling me to snap and forced me out in the back yard to go out and do that, and I kindof had a natural talent for it. Then I kindof did it in high school a little bit, and a little bit in college never really thinking it was gonna get me anywhere, it was just something I kindof did. Then we got to pro day after college, y’know nobody wanted to work me out as a defensive lineman, I did all the drills, I was working hard on the drills for prep and then we did the testing. There was 5 or 6 coaches that are like ‘we wanna see you snap’ and I was like ‘aw, man’, not what I was trying to do here. So I snapped a little bit, and mind you I was 290, and they were trying to get me to snap and cover downfield. Yeah it was not pretty. But I got a workout in at the Dallas day with the Cowboys, and did well enough at defensive line that coach Marinelli liked me alot, he was a big effort guy and that was one of my strengths. So he liked me alot, and they asked me to come back for rookie minicamp and do both, so it was good.”
SW: Going back to your high school, you went to highschool at Rowlett, and there were a couple NFL guys that went through there, and one of the ones there around the same time as you was Marquise Goodwin for about two years before he went on to play in college. Did you have any sort of relationship with him or was it more of just in-passing in high school?
Wood: “Yeah it was kind of just in-passing in high school, we were I think far enough apart where we didn’t really mingle as much. I think he was a senior when I was a sophomore, just getting started on varsity. He was an absolute stud, yeah just was crazy athletic. Y’know, he had his crew and I wasn’t a part of it, but he was always super nice, he was always super nice, and went on to do some great things.”
SW: Obviously the promotion of Darren Rizzi to interim head coach is recent news, how do you feel about that as someone who’s worked with him over the years and been in the room with him…how does it feel to see that promotion and is it exciting for you?
Wood: “Yeah, yeah, he’s been preparing to be a head coach for a long time, he has, that’s been his goal. You’d never know it because he’s not one to complain or anything like that, he just knows what his role has been and he’s maxed it out. I think he’s a heck of a coach, one of the best in the NFL, players love him, everyone loves him he’s a guys guy, and I couldn’t be more happy that he got this opportunity. Although I do wish it wasn’t in this circumstance, because it’s a tough place to have an audition to be a head coach. Typically it would go poorly, not having the guys you want in the building, we were 2-7 when he got promoted, tough situation, but he’s handled it super well and just by being himself he’s got everybody bought in, because everybody wants to play hard for him and play well. I think last week against Atlanta we showed alot of juice for that game, and I think that’s carried on through this week, so we’re excited.”
SW: With the promotion of Rizzi, obviously he may have a little less time with you guys in the special teams room. How have you seen coach Phil Galiano and coach Marwan Maalouf step up into the roles they took over now with one being already here and the other being recently hired?
Wood: “What’s good about them is they’ve been with Rizz for a long time, Mouf and Rizz have had a long relationship so the message hasn’t changed, which has been really good. I think both of them, especially Phil, has been also preparing himself to be a coordinator, and he’s been wanting to take on that role. Although Rizz is head coach, he’s not letting the reigns go too much on special teams, that’s still his baby. So he’s still running the meetings and stuff like that, he can’t let go of that quite yet I think that’ll be a next year move. But Phil and Mouf have been great, love those dudes, they’ve got the same type of personality as Rizz, just very genuine, tell it to your face, tell it straight up, and people respond to that really well.”
SW: That’s what I like to hear, obviously theres a transition period with these types of changes, and it happening mid-season, I can’t fathom how difficult that could be in some situations. But if you’ve got a guy who is similar to who you already had, that must be a good sign?
Wood: “Yeah for sure. Rizz had some buddies in town this past week for the Atlanta game, and I was talking to them pregame and they were just like ‘man he’s exhausted’ and you wouldn’t even know it, you had no idea, he’s barely eaten at all, he got a little sick, and you wouldn’t even be able to tell at all. Gosh man, I just don’t know how he does it, he brings it every single day, it’s exhausting for me to keep up with him, but it’s good for the team.”
SW: You’re one of the longer tenured players on the roster, you’re second longest tenured currently on the roster and approaching the top 25 most played games for the Saints. So how does that feel for you, you’ve obviously had the opportunity to make a long term career out of a position where some people do and some people don’t, and you’ve embraced it to make a great career so far?
Wood: “Yeah I’ve been blessed, I’ve had some good people around me that have kindof helped me when times weren’t so good, when I mentally wasn’t so good. Alot of their successes helped me succeed, so I’m blessed with that, and it’s crazy being one of the longest tenured guys on the team now. I still feel like a rookie most times, which is good it keeps things fresh, that’s a good mentality to have I feel like. But it’s been awesome man, I couldn’t have dreamed to be in the NFL this long, so I’m just taking it day by day and I’m enjoying it.”
SW: Building off of that, who are some of your favorite guys you’ve worked with over the years, between players, coaches, staff, whoever has had an impact on your career?
Wood: “I’ve gotta give a shout out to Wil Lutz, he was a good buddy of mine, I was with him for seven years and he was a hell of a kicker, he’s a great guy, and y’know he made alot of big kicks on some bad operations, kept me in the league so I appreciate him for that. My buddy Blake Gillikin, who was with me for four years, he’s one of my great friends, and y’know I think it’s super important to have people in the room that you really get along with and have a good relationship with. That’s definitely two of the guys, and obviously I guess you gotta bring up Drew Brees, getting to play with him which was super cool, an absolute animal, hes 1 of 1. It was fun watching him, his work ethic, and how everybody responded to him and it was awesome. You could definitely tell the difference when he left, I feel like I maybe took that for granted when he was here, as soon as he left it was just a total change. Drew was super cool, and he was a great dude. I’ve had a number of friends that have come through, get put on different teams or have stopped playing, but that’s one of the good things about playing so long, you get to meet alot of great people.”
SW: You mentioned Lutz, obviously you were in his wedding as well, do you still keep in touch with Lutz even though he’s in Denver now?
Wood: “Yeah I think we talk once a week at least, we stay in touch. He comes back here to New Orleans in the offseason, he’s got a house here, so yeah we’ll be spending some time together, playing some golf and hanging out.”
SW: You’ve had quite a few people come through the kicking and punting rooms the last couple of years, Gillikin, Grupe, Hedley, Hayball. What types of changes do you have to make to suit different punters or holds, is there any real big changes or are things generally pretty similar for you?
Wood: “It’s pretty similar, I know where I get laces on field goals, so just getting the holder on the same page usually helps. But yeah there’s some guys that catch it different ways, you just kindof adjust but it’s nothing crazy. It was different when I had Lou and Matt in training camp and we’ve got a righty and a lefty, I’m so used to aiming for the right hip and it doesn’t seem like much but aiming for the left…it took me awhile to get used to it. Especially because they were alternating days they had to kick, so I just had to look back there every now and then and be like ‘who am I snapping to next’.”
SW: Speaking of that, you worked with Thomas Morstead and Blake Gillikin to start with the somewhat traditional style of punting, and now you’ve had the Australian type of knuckleball punting with Lou Hedley and Matthew Hayball. Is there any difference for you guys, both in snapping and punt coverage to differentiate between the two, or is it just you see whos down there and hit them.
Wood: “Well I mean there’s definitely a difference in coverage, mostly the difference has been we’ve done a bunch of the roll-out formations this year, which has been good. There’s alot of things we can do with that, it takes away alot of the teams punt rushes, which, when you’re playing a team that has a really good punt rush team and you can go to a roll out, it kindof takes it out of the game which is great. On the negative side of that is there’s alot of different formations and alot of different places to snap the ball now, so it’s not just the bread and butter, the traditional punts. Yeah it’s been good, with Thomas it was the traditional punts you know, we’re going left and right he’s painting the sidelines. With Matt and Lou, he’s rolling out and he can hit it left or right, it’s easier to disguise where we’re hitting the ball. It’s fun, it’s fun to do it, it gives me a variety in the game which is fun.”
SW: In your career, what have been some of your favorite moments, either on the field or watching from the sideline?
Wood: “One of my favorite moments is when we had that Monday night game against the Texans, and Wil hit that big 58-yard field goal for the win which was insane. It was fun because we all went in to that field goal, and I think all three of us knew this field goal was going in. I felt super confident, it’s always great to feel really confident in a high pressure situation. Going into that I was super confident in that, and just to see it happen was pretty awesome. Then obviously we won a bunch of games with Drew, and it’s hard to name all of them but he’s got a bunch of great wins, watching him operate was so much fun. I guess I’d say one of my other favorite ones was when Jameis threw that hail mary pass when we were playing Washington, that was pretty sick. That was electric.”
SW: Talking about your extension, you received the four-year extension last year, so you are going to be here through at least 2027. How does it feel knowing the front office and coaches have that type of faith in you to offer a four-year deal? Especially at a position that may not be a premium for a lot of teams but when they have someone of your quality it is.
Wood: “I mean it was awesome, I don’t think words can really describe it, to have the guys believe in me like that. I’m grateful for it, and I love the front office, I love the coaches, we’ve got a great relationship I think and I’m hoping that gets better and better every single year. So I’m just thankful they have the faith in me to do it, and I hope I can continue to perform for them.”
SW: What is that process like, when you’re going into an extension period or they let you know it’s something they want to discuss? What is the player perspective of that, is it mostly the agent handling it or is it more of a sit down process with everyone?
Wood: “My agent handled it pretty much, I was always on the phone with him like ‘What’s going on, any updates?’ Trying not to bother him too much, but it’s exciting to get another deal going…but I tried to stay calm as it’s out of my control, and let those guys do the work and then we’ll come to a compromise and find something that we both like, and we did so it was good. I think my agent Mike Abadir handled it super well.”
SW: This one isn’t even the start of it, you’ve had a couple extensions over the course of your career so far.
Wood: “Yeah I’m hoping to get some more too, we’ll see.”
SW: Well you’d only be 34 by the time this one finishes up, so you’ve got time
Wood: “Oh yeah, yeah, I’m gonna try to play as long as they wanna keep me around.”
SW: You’ve been able to play in every game that you’ve been with the Saints, all 125 games, and managed to avoid major injury. What attribute do you tie to your ability to stay on the field, how do you prepare for games which helps you avoid injuries?
Wood: “Well one of the blessings of my position is that you don’t take a beating like these other guys do. But we still, through the day in day out stuff that we do, it does take a beating on the hips and the back. But I try to keep my diet super clean, stay away from alcohol, and I do alot of body work, not massages or anything but I try to stay loose, stay stretched out, and be smart with my workouts. Just make sure I’m feeling the right way, and taking care of my body, it’s just part of being a professional. You learn that from watching guys like Drew, and like Demario take care of their bodies, guys that have been playing for a long time. So I just watch and learn secretly, and take in what they’re giving me.”
SW: Obviously you’ve got alot of guys to learn that type of thing from in New Orleans too, especially Cam Jordan
Wood: “Yeah with Cam he doesn’t really lift weights that often, which I think has helped with his endurance in the NFL. He shed some weight this year, which he felt like he really needed to stay in the game longer. He told me, we talk about it pretty often, he was like ‘ya the guys that play 15-16 years gotta lose weight, because their bodies just can’t maintain that explosiveness.’ So that was one of the things I was like alright maybe I’m gonna need to shed a couple of pounds here, try and play as long as I can.”
SW: From a general perspective, not alot of people know what goes into being a long-snapper. Can you talk about the difficulties and what you enjoy about it, and what you do on a day to day basis? Obviously we get alot of talk about the quarterbacks, wide receivers, and tight ends but we don’t hear much about the long-snappers.
Wood: “Well for starters, we do have to block, I get that all the time. When I had Instagram, I got a holding call called one time and I had a bunch of messages that were like ‘How do you get a holding call when you don’t even (redacted) block’ and I’m like, you guys have no idea. So blocking is definitely incredibly hard, the transition from snap to block is tough. That’s one of the fortunate things I had in college, was we ran a pro style punt, so I got a little bit of experience with that. It’s tough for those guys when they come from college who’ve never blocked anybody, to come to the NFL and try to block a defensive end or just these freak athletes. So I think that’d be the most challenging part. The thing I love about it though is it’s the same thing for me every time, it’s like shooting free throws, you’ve just gotta really work on it. It’s never perfect, you’ve never got it figured out, it’s just a constant trial and error with certain things, but once you find your groove it’s great. But you’re always fine tuning your craft, and it keeps you engaged, and it’s easy to kind of take that for granted if you let it, but you’ve just gotta stay engaged and stay intentional every time you go out there and practice and when you play.”
SW: With the new kickoff, in the room of people you’re in who have to deal with that change, what’s been the consensus with that, and what changes have you all had to make in the last offseason to be ready for that?
Wood: “Well our guys love it, especially the kickoff room, they love to go down there and hunt. That’s Rizzi’s mentality, he told everybody before, he’s like ‘we’re gonna go cover this year.’ That could be a little pressure for Rizz because he’s the one that brought it to the league, and he’d be worried if he was hitting touchbacks all the time. The guys love it, we’ve got a tackle chart, so we’re keeping it competitive, getting guys to go out and make tackles. I would say the hardest part would probably be for the kickoff return, because it’s tough to block. I think that’s been the biggest change for everybody is the blocking on the kickoff return is much harder, because you can’t move until the guy in front of you moves, so they get a little bit of advantage there.
But I am shocked that there hadn’t been more touchdowns there. I think that’s good also, we don’t want kickoffs determining the game. Starting at the 30-yard line is huge, I think it’s been really good, it’s fun to watch kickoff now at least for me, I hope a lot of other people feel the same way because there’s a lot more action. I wish more people were in tune with what’s really going down on kickoff, because it’s a lot more enjoyable to watch. When you can see when guys miss blocks, and what blocking schemes are up, and how guys set up a return, it’s so much more engaging for the fans to watch.”
SW: You mentioned the tackle chart, I’m sure the guys are loving that right now as you have two of the top five tacklers on special teams in the league at this point. Obviously you guys are not trying to induce the fair catch, is that something Rizzi had mentioned was going to be the case, that you would try to keep it out of the endzone and let your guys work?
Wood: “Yeah, yeah, we want our kickoff team to go out there and make plays, and we’ve got the guys to do it and I think Rizzi’s got full confidence in that and he gives us that confidence. Like I said he’s got a mentality that we’re gonna go down there and hunt, and those guys embraced it, so they go out there and they fly to the ball, and they love it so we like that.”
SW: Some of the different positions have their own niches, like the tight ends with tight end university or the running backs grouping up when it came down to contracts. Do the long-snappers have anything of that sort for workouts over the offseason, or do you mostly stick with your own kickers and punters?
Wood: “I think we stick with our own guys most of the time, there’s a couple camps that go around. I go to the Kohl’s camp in Gatlinburg, I’ve been to Gatlinburg once but I’ve been through a couple in Texas that he has, and you just get to work with a bunch of different guys from around the league. Although not a lot of the snappers always make it out to those, so it’s just punters and kickers, snappers kind of stick with themselves sometimes. But I guess in our age range, everybody is having kids right now so they don’t even have time for it.”
SW: You’ve been named team captain two years in a row now, what does it feel like knowing that’s not just a coach decision but a player decision? Considering only five or six guys get that each year, and you were able to get it twice in a row, do you feel the love perse from your teammates for that?
Wood: “I do, I do, I definitely feel the love from the guys, which is good because I feel like specialists are isolated most of the time from the team, but I feel like I make it a point to spend time with the guys, especially throughout the day in the locker room and at practice, hang out with them and joke with them. I try to come to work everyday and do my job to the best of my abilities, and I’m glad that the guys can see that and respect me for it. I’m very honored to be seen as a leader for the group, and I love my guys, and I’m really thankful.”
SW: The other guy that’s usually with you as the special teams captain is J.T. Gray, what is your relationship like with him?
Wood: “Oh yeah, yeah, I love Juantavius, if you didn’t know that’s his real name, crazy name but J.T. is the best, he’s a professional too, he comes out and works hard every day, and him and I get along super well, great guy. He’s a playmaker, he’s been to the Pro Bowl once or twice now I think, he’s an animal. I think the guys respect him because he makes plays, so I’m thankful he’s on our team.”
SW: Speaking of that, he’s number two in the league now in special teams tackles, with Anfernee Orji and D’Marco Jackson also in the top ten, so like you said the tackle list is there.
Wood: “Yeah, yeah, and that’s what Rizz wanted, he was like we’ve got guys that can make plays, he’ll make them do it.”
SW: In previous interviews you mentioned that in your first couple years with Dallas and New Orleans you had a little bit of trouble with snap and lace location. What was something you did to overcome that, and find the skill you have now to just snap and hit your point?
Wood: “Well it took a lot of work, I was pretty raw coming out of college, I taught myself how to do it I never had any coaching. I guess I was unaware of how technical it was, didn’t even realize that I had to get the laces on field goal, I was like ‘damn, that’s my job? I thought that was the holder’s job’. I struggled with that because I never really paid attention to it, and I wasn’t aware of how I can manipulate the ball, the distance, and it took me awhile to get some confidence in. I think this past year when I went to Gatlinburg I finally got some actual coaching, I called up Casey Casper, he works for the Colts camp, and I was like ‘dude, I need you to fix me, I need some help with this.’ He’s been a great coach, and I’ve been to him before but I was having success so he didn’t want to change anything I was doing. Which is good because you don’t wanna mess somebody up, but I told him to just pull me apart, be honest with me and tell me what I need to fix, and it helped me a lot we got some really good work in Gatlinburg. We’ve been having a really good season on the field goal operation, yeah he’s been helping me out a lot so that’s been good, I took what he taught me and I ran with it, and I’ve been working really hard to get it perfect.”
SW: Sounds like those other long-snappers that weren’t showing up are missing out
Wood: “Yeah I mean I love the work and I think those guys do too, but yeah go see Casey he’ll help you out.”
SW: Regarding tomorrow’s (Sunday’s) game, how does it feel to go against former teammates in general? Obviously you’ll be going up against Jameis Winston tomorrow, is it somewhat of a reunion or is it game until the game is over?
Wood: “I think it’s game until the game is over. No, we all love Jameis, he’s a special special guy, and he’s hilarious, great teammate, it’ll be fun to have him back in the dome. But we’ll be business as usual until after the game where we can let loose, hang out, give him some hugs and tell him we love him after that.”
SW: On more of a personal note, what are some of the things you enjoy doing outside football?
Wood: “I’m not very good but I love to go out and golf, what’s good about having Wil back in town is he’s a huge golfer so he’ll travel back to the course, so we go out and golf quite a bit. I am having a baby this offseason so going golfing might be not for me for a couple months.”
SW: Congratulations! Good timing that you’ll have the chance in the offseason and not have to run out of a game or anything.
Wood: “Oh yeah, that was on purpose so we planned that out.”
SW: Some of the charity events you did in the past got moved on from, like the charity softball game and home run derby where you were back to back champion, do you miss those types of things and what have you done more recently for community outreach?
Wood: “Yeah I do miss the home run derby a lot, probably because I won it twice but it was just a fun thing to get the crowd out, come watch us mess around and not constantly being football, playing another sport, and it was a lot of fun. I wish we would continue to do that, I’m not really sure who was running that, but we need to get that back. It’s been way too long. But I think for charity a lot of guys do their own things, Tyrann Mathieu had a turkey giveaway, so guys will go out and help support teammates doing their charities, stuff like that. There’s a lot of local stuff players get involved with, whether it’s with the hospitals, schools. I’ve been working with NOLA Mission here in New Orleans, went and volunteered a couple times, and that’s a great organization. They help out with trauma, homelessness, addiction, and domestic abuse, it’s a great organization, so I’m hoping to do more with them as I get going.”
SW: We saw earlier this offseason Bret “The Hitman” Hart gave you birthday wishes on the Saints social media page, are you a big fan of his or was it out of nowhere?
Wood: “You know I was shocked too, I don’t think I’ve ever said anything about him, it was super nice, I don’t know where it came from, I don’t know what that was all about, yeah it was super random.”
SW: Is there anything you want to say to fans currently, with the changes that have been made, or just in general?
Wood: “I appreciate the loyalty, we’ve been taking you guys through the ringer, this city deserves a winning team, and I think we’re getting to that point where we’ll turn it over, we’re just blessed to have the fans that we do. Trust me, we don’t take them for granted, they’re always there, they’re always hyping us up, they’ve always been loyal to the Saints so we want to be loyal to them. We wanna bring them victories, get the dome shaking again, that last game against the Falcons man they were back, you wouldn’t even think we were 2-7, it sounded undefeated in that stadium. It was awesome, so I just hope they keep bringing that energy, because we really can feel it through them.”
“They still get rowdy, this city loves to party man, they bring it to the dome and bring it to the games, and it’s awesome.”
SW: One final question, punt blocks, the Saints have a history of them and it has been somewhat of a constant, what is that like for you guys and what do you prepare for to help those happen in the special teams room?
Wood: “We work really hard on punt, every single day, we get a lot of reps in. That’s one of Rizzi’s main focuses, because a blocked punt can change the game, and we don’t want that on our side we wanna be the ones who are blocking punts. Rizzi’s punt block return team, that’s his baby, he loves drawing stuff up for that, and I think we put a lot of fear into other teams and their punt teams because of the way we come after the ball. But then again, we go against that rush too, so we go against all that crazy stuff that Rizz has drawn up, so we get work on both sides. I think it’s helped us as the punt team a lot. I’m watching every single punt the other team has, because I’m just like ‘this could be the one, this could be the one they do it.’ It happens often, I don’t know how many blocked punts we have against teams since Rizzi has been here, but it’s a lot, it’s gotta be leading the NFL it’s insane.”
SW: It feels like a lot of them come when Steve Gleason is in the dome as well, I don’t know if there’s a correlation but it definitely feels like most of the time he’s there one happens.
Wood: “Well I hope he’s at this next game, I’m sure he will be, set the tone.”
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