Jody E. Littleton (born October 23, 1974) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point attempt ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Baylor and for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, and

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

during his

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

career.

Early life and college career

Born in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Littleton graduated from Brighton High School in

Brighton, Colorado Brighton is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality city located in Adams County, Colorado, Adams and Weld County, Colorado, Weld List of counties in Colorado, counties, Colorado, United States. Brighto ...

. At

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

, Littleton played at long snapper and linebacker for the

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only two private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to j ...

from 1994 to 1997. The first-team long snapper in his final three seasons, he had eight tackles in 1996 and 25 tackles in 1997.

NFL career

Following the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

, Littleton signed as an undrafted free agent with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

but was waived on July 2, 1998. Littleton then was the special teams coordinator at Hico High School in

Hico, Texas ''For other instances of Hico, see: Hico (disambiguation)'' Hico (, ) is a small city located in Hamilton County, Texas, Hamilton County in central Texas, United States. Named for its founder's hometown of Hico, Kentucky, Hico in southwestern Ken ...

until signing with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

on May 14, 2001. He was waived during the preseason on August 28, 2001. He signed again with the Giants on January 9, 2002, and was allocated to the

Frankfurt Galaxy Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Frankfurt Galaxy: * Frankfurt Galaxy (NFL Europe), active in NFL Europe between 1991 and 2007 * Frankfurt Galaxy (ELF) The Frankfurt Galaxy is an American football team in Frankfurt, ...

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

on February 9. With the Galaxy, Littleton played in 10 games at weak side linebacker with five starts, making nine tackles and two passes defended. The Giants waived Littleton on August 27, 2002, prior to the regular season. On October 16, 2002, Littleton signed with the

. In his first NFL career action, Littleton played in two games with the Bears at long snapper in 2002 before being waived on October 29. He signed with the

practice squad on December 19, 2002; while signed with the Lions, Littleton had his second allocation with the Frankfurt Galaxy on January 30, 2003. Playing in 10 games with six starts at linebacker, Littleton made 12 tackles for the Galaxy and was part of a Galaxy team that won

World Bowl XI World Bowl XI was NFL Europe's 2003 championship game. It was played at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland on June 14, 2003. The crowd were entertained pre-match by Scottish rock legend Fish performing a rousing rendition of “Caledonia”. Hal ...

. The Lions waived Littleton on September 1 but brought him back to the team on December 11, 2003. Littleton played in the final three games of the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

with the Lions in place of injured long snapper

Bradford Banta Bradford Banta (born December 14, 1970) is a former American football tight end and long snapper in the National Football League (NFL). College career Banta was a two-year starter at tight end for USC Trojans (1989–93), as well as a four-tim ...

, making one special teams tackle. In the 2004 season with the Lions, Littleton played in eight games again at linebacker. He made one special teams tackle. The Lions waived Littleton on August 23, 2005, prior to the regular season. He was briefly signed again with the Lions from October 25 to November 1, 2005. On November 28, 2005, Littleton signed with the

. Playing primarily at long snapper, Littleton played in five games with five special teams tackles in his final pro football season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Littleton, Jody 1974 births Living people Players of American football from Denver American football long snappers Baylor Bears football players Chicago Bears players Detroit Lions players Cleveland Browns players People from Brighton, Colorado Sportspeople from Adams County, Colorado