When you’re an undrafted rookie, it’s really hard to make a 53-man roster. Like, really hard. Especially when it’s at a specialist position and it’s with a team that wants its players to be able to do more than one thing if possible.

This year the Detroit Lions started the year with three undrafted rookies on the 53-man roster and only one of them stuck the entire year and it was the guy you probably think about the least. The long snapper.

Hogan Hatten came in as an undrafted rookie out of Idaho this year and kind of came in at the perfect time for his position. Last season Scott Daly nailed down the job for the third season in a row before getting injured early in the year and being replaced by Jake McQuaide. The assumption was that it was Daly’s role to lose this summer.

But Hatten came in and not only offered up the ability to be a long snapper but so much more. He could play linebacker in a pinch and he could do more on special teams. Lions punter Jack Fox talked about how Hatten’s athleticism was big for the Lions this year.

Hidden Lions rookie wowed teammates and may have earned himself a job in Detroit for a very long time to come

“He definitely earned it. I’ll say that.” Fox said.  “First of all, his athleticism is incredible. From a long snapper, that’s kind of like a plus, like you got to be able to snap and protect, but when you can run down the field and impact to play and make tackles, I mean that that is just incredible. And that helps me, and that helps our whole team. So when I saw him do that, I was like, Yeah, this guy can really play.”

It’s that little extra ability that could not only make Hatten a successful long snapper but a guy who can be a Pro Bowler at the position and lock it down for a long time. Previous to the 30-year-old Daly holding the role for three years, Don Muhlbach was in that spot for 17 years and made a couple of Pro Bowls off it. Teams aren’t replacing long snappers every year. If you’re good at it, you can hold that gig for a long time.

We don’t talk about long snappers a lot, but Hatten is pretty different because the Lions can do more than one thing with him. It’ll be interesting to see how the Lions could use that positional versatility going forward.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.