Ravens sign former 49ers long snapper McDermott

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens wasted no time replacing injured long snapper Morgan Cox by signing former San Francisco 49ers snapper Kevin McDermott on Monday afternoon.
A magnetic resonance imaging exam confirmed a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament in Cox’s right knee suffered in the Ravens’ 29-7 win over the Atlanta Falcons. It was the second ACL injury he’s sustained in his five-year career after hurting his left knee late in the 2010 season.
McDermott played all 16 games with San Francisco last year before being cut at the end of the 2014 preseason. The 24-year-old UCLA product was signed to the Denver Broncos’ practice squad in early September.
“He’s a guy that we’re very familiar with. [Special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg] had a chance to work out him and Patrick Scales this morning,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “Patrick’s a guy who was with us in training camp twice [and] who we had a lot of respect for as well. Both of those guys had excellent workouts, and we feel like either one of those guys would fit us really well. But we chose to go with Kevin.”
Considered to have one of the better special-teams units in the NFL, the Ravens will now hope McDermott can be brought up to speed quickly as long snapping is a thankless job that’s only noticed when something goes wrong.
Harbaugh praised Cox for his willingness to help McDermott get acclimated as the veteran snapper deals with the personal disappointment of his 2014 season coming to an end. Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata filled in to snap for the final extra point try of Sunday’s game after Cox was injured in the fourth quarter, but the Ravens hope McDermott can pick up where Cox left off in not being noticed by the outside world.
“He’s kind of pledged his time and effort as he’s rehabbing to get with [McDermott] and help him understand what we’re doing and the nuances of the position,” Harbaugh said. “There’s a lot there. We do a lot with our snapper in terms of mental responsibilities and different techniques that we use. We’ll have to see how Kevin fits that, but Morgan will be there to help him all the way. It shows you what kind of guy he is.”
Cox was officially placed on season-ending injured reserve on Monday.