48 days until Chicago Bears 2017 season kicks off: Patrick Scales profile
The Bear Goggles On Countdown to Kickoff series is now underway. With 48 days to go until the Bears season kicks off, we will highlight long snapper, Patrick Scales
2016 Review
Scales spent the entire 2016 season on the Bears roster. He played in all 16 games, after being signed on for the final five games of the season in 2015. Scales also spent some time on the Ravens roster.
2017 Outlook
Scales is going to make the team. The Bears did not bring any competition on the 90-man roster to compete with him, which means that as long as he does not look completely lost from a season before that the job is his. Of course, long snappers are easier to replace, and would not be hard to find a replacement for him. However, that should be all of the incentives that he needs to make the roster and put in a full season for the Bears.
Future with the Bears
Life of a long snapper does not necessarily mean long term financial security. Scales can be replaced easily in camp and can be replaced even easier at the end of the season. Scales is a restricted free agent which is nice for the Bears. They are essentially in the position where they can almost certainly keep him at the end of the season if they want, and it will not cost much. Or, they can move on and find somebody else at the same rate. Scales will consistently be competing for his job and has not earned any stripes on the team yet.