Bears solve long snapper mystery at Thursday’s practice originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears found their long snapper. On Thursday the team signed Scott Daly to the practice squad. Daly will be elevated to the active roster once it’s time to play the Titans in Week 1.
“We like him a lot,” said special teams coordinator Richard Hightower. “Played against him a ton. Veteran. Snaps a really good ball. Really, in our personal opinion, he’s one of the 32 in the league.”
The next steps for the Bears will be fast tracking the chemistry between Daly, punter/holder Tory Taylor and kicker Cairo Santos.
“It is extremely challenging, I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Hightower said. “A lot of people think that you just snap, hold, kick and the ball goes through the uprights. But there are a lot of different things that play into that. The laces, the lean on the ball, the wind. How you tilt the ball can change the direction and the flight pattern of the ball. How you snap it can change that. How you hold the ball can change that. The steps in the kicker’s operation can change that. So it’s something we are going to have to work through.”
Patrick Scales has been so consistent as a long snapper over his eight seasons and 120 games with the Bears, that it might be easy for fans to take him for granted. The Bears don’t.
Kicker Cairo Santos has many times praised Scales’ ability to spin the ball in such a way that the laces are consistently at “11 and 1” – as if you’re at the hands of a clock– by the time the ball reaches the holder. That helps the holder get the ball down for Santos quickly so that the operation runs smoothly.
The Bears placed Scales on IR on Wednesday, which means they’ll have the opportunity to designate him for a return to the active roster if and when he gets healthy. However, it’s still unclear if or when that may be.
“I don’t have the answer for that,” Hightower said. “I don’t have a crystal ball on that one.”
This isn’t Daly’s first time at Halas Hall. He came to rookie minicamp in 2017 on a tryout basis, but didn’t end up signing with the club. Daly made his NFL debut with the Lions in 2021 and played 42 games in Detroit.
Daly also adds to the list of Local Guys on the Bears. He grew up in Downers Grove.
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