The Miami Dolphins have signed former Utah long snapper Patrick Scales to the team's 90-player training camp roster. Scales, who is 6-foot-4, 258-pounds, will compete with John Denney for the long snapper spot on the 53-man roster when the Dolphins begin the OTA program next week. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/dolphins-blog/sfl-miami-dolphins-sign-long-snapper-patrick-scales-20130408,0,5470797.story This appears to be a cap savings measure.
Obviously, this has to be done at some point given Denney's age, but at the same time, would the $500k really be worth it if we saw two bad snaps that led to a botched FG try or punt? You have to be sure this other guy can do the job with the same reliability as Denney has for quite some time now. Since we are not right up against the cap, it may be worth it to simply keep Denney. Then again grooming a guy for a year when we shouldn't be serious playoff contenders isn't a bad idea either. Torn on this on.
Maybe I'm missing some sort of obscure special teams change, but Denney used to be really good at getting down the field and being one of the first couple guys to the ball earlier in his career. He hasn't done it so much recently.
We have plenty of cap room. We get another 10 million June 1. Sooner or later they would have to replace Denney. May as well start looking before Denny is gone rather then looking after he is gone. Denney will be the long snapper this year, he does not screw up much.
Denney is usually down there. Maybe not the first but he is good in coverage. The thing that is nice is I cannot remember the last botched snap on a punt , field goal or extra point. Not in recent memory anyway.
Yep. And he was hand picked for the Pro Bowl by John Fox who did not coach a half bad team this year.
I hadn't been paying much attention til this past year, where I starting noticing how valuable this guy is, and how athletic he was getting down the field, I remember a few plays on special teams where I had to stop and think to myself, that was John freakin Denney that just did that..I'm not sure the frequency he used to do it at, but I was impressed, and we know he's absolute money on all his snaps.
I think there was a low snap in one of the Pats games that lead to a TD. It was still catchable though. That's the only one I can really think of.
Snaps are the key. The tackling is important but ultimately gravy. You have to have confidence in the snapper. Of course, he is getting up there in age - and getting a guy in to compete and perhaps get better as an option next year is a positive signing but not overly significant, imo.
On this theme, I'm sure we'll bring in a guy or eight to compete with Carpenter. Probably from the Mountain West. You know it chaps Ireland's butt to pay a kicker 4 years 8M
Maybe he just needs to suit up himself then and return to his Baylor glory days. That way we have nothing against the cap for the K position.
I really doubt that we're going to let go of Denney to save only $400K. He is getting up there, but he's still a nice ST player for us and that's something that Philbin values.
He's only 34 for gawd sakes. There are or have recently been long snappers in the league up to 40 years old. Age is not a logical reason to replace Denney.
so this has the feel of a move made because scales is younger and what is omar doing.....no word how old scales is...great job, he just turned 25 in february btw
Ed Perry and John Denney. Those are the two long snappers I can remember. Both have done a tremendous job. I was sad to see Perry go in Favor of Denney. I will feel the same once Denney goes. That being said, I say keep the man. He's been fantastic for us.
Did we just sign a LB? I was watching NFL AM and i saw that we signed a LB. I had no idea who it was when i read it and i don't remember his name. I am surprised there is no threads about it. Thanks to anyone who can solve this mystery.
Did you not misread it, because we signed a long snapper? Maybe you saw LS and thought it was LB? Patrick Scales is the long snapper we inked.
yep, now that i see the name, thats what i saw. But it said LB not LS, its good to know he is also a LS though.
I googled him and he is showing up as a TE as well. I think he is the new kordell stewart. He plays LS,TE, and LB. lol. I hear he is the water boy too. His grand father is the guy from the Dos Equies commercial. He's got my vote in next season survivor game. who's with me?
He played TE and DE in high school. He came out of college as a LS only. http://www.nfldraftscout.com/members/ratings/profile.php?pyid=78576