Zach Triner overcame a hand injury and a lengthy stint on injured reserve in 2021 to regain his job as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ long-snapper. Now he’s in line to continue in that role after re-signing with the Buccaneers on Monday.
Triner, who has three years of accrued free agency credit, became a free agent on March 16 and was free to sign with any team after the Buccaneers declined to extend a qualifying offer. He has handled Tampa Bay’s long-snapping duties for the past three seasons, except for the time he missed while on injured reserve last fall.
Triner tore a tendon in a finger on his left hand just seconds into the second quarter of the Buccaneers’ 2021 season opener against Dallas. He proceeded to play the rest of the game in pain and without most of his coaches and teammates realizing he was injured. The remainder of his snaps on the evening were on target, most importantly the one that began Ryan Succop’s game-winning field goal with seven seconds left in a 31-29 Bucs win.
Triner was placed on injured reserve the following week and remained there for nine weeks and eight games after undergoing corrective surgery on his finger. Carson Tinker was signed to handle the snapping duties during his absence, but Triner regained the job upon his return from injured reserve and snapped for the final 10 games, including the postseason.
Triner first signed with the Buccaneers in January of 2019, a little over two years after his first NFL tryout with the New York Jets. He spent time with the Jets that offseason and went to training camp with the Green Bay Packers in 2018 but did not make an active roster until joining the Buccaneers. Triner replaced veteran snapper Garrison Sanborn and handled those duties for all 36 games over the next two seasons, playoffs included.