the.com/passer

means A person whose job or play depends on moving something along to the next pair of hands, rather than finishing the play themselves.

from Built from Latin 'passare' (to step, to pass), itself rooted in 'passus' meaning 'a step' — the same ancestor that gives English 'pace' and 'passage.' The '-er' suffix just marks the doer: the one who makes the step happen. Sports usage simply narrowed an old word about movement to someone who moves the ball instead of carrying it home.