Detroit Lions fill their long snapper vacancy with familiar name

The Detroit Lions announced on Wednesday they have signed veteran long snapper Jake McQuaide to their practice squad. The news comes just a day after the Lions placed their previous long snapper, Scott Daly, on injured reserve following a knee injury on Monday night.

“He’s going to need surgery. It’s a tough one to lose,” coach Dan Campbell said Tuesday. “I’m glad you brought him up because he’s been—nobody really talks about Daly, right? And you don’t talk about the long snapper unless something bad happens and we hadn’t talked about Daly, really since (Lions Special Assistant Football Operations Don Muhlbach) Muhl was gone, which was the one where I screwed that one up.

“And Daly, man, just grew from there. He took the challenge and just grew. And he’s been, I mean just a steady rock for us. And he’s improved every year. He was having the best year that we’ve had and just – and so, it hurts. It’s going to hurt to lose him. He’s been really good for us, but we’ll figure all that out and we’ll move forward.”

Despite the tough loss of Daly, the Lions are in relatively steady hands with McQuaide. The 35-year-old long snapper has 181 games of NFL experience and was named to the Pro Bowl in both 2016 and 2017.

He also has a level of comfortability with the Lions, having spent five months of the offseason with the team before Detroit opted to go with Daly in early August.

“I love having McQuaide here,” special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said this offseason. “I mean this guy is a high caliber player, played in the Pro-Bowl, been a great snapper his whole career. He’s been a guy who I’ve watched on film just in terms of protection and being an example when I was in Philadelphia with Rick Lovato, being an example of how to protect on punt.”

With the Lions being on a bye and the potential to elevate McQuaide from the practice squad up to three times in a season, they don’t have to rush to find him a spot on the active roster at this time.