Need for Some Special Help Ahead for Bears

Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower had been describing the wild attitude of safety Elijah Hicks on coverage teams when he started thinking about others who played at a pretty high emotional level.

"Dylan Cole is a ball of energy," Hightower said. "And Patrick Scales has got a lot of juice too. He's an energy guy. But in terms of fire, passion, I would say Dylan has to be up there."

Scales? The long snapper?

It's hard to know if that's even good to have a long snapper who plays at a higher "juice" level.

The Bears might need to replace Scales, Cole and one other vital member of special teams heading into 2024.

Whether Scales is to be replaced might depend on several factors. One is age. Scales turns 36 on Super Bowl Sunday. It might seem long of tooth for someone in the NFL who must go downfield to cover punts after he snaps the ball, but former long snapper Trey Junkin was still in the NFL when he was 41 years old. Carolina's J.J. Jansen (38), Houston's Jon Weeks (37) and Tennessee's Morgan Cox (37) are older.

Another factor is cost. It's not a huge problem if the long snapper is still good at what he does. Highest average annual contract value for long snapper is Indianapolis' Luke Rhodes at $1.62 million according to Spotrac.com. Scales is only tied for 13th highest annual cost at $1.37 million.

None of these three special teams contributors take big chunks out of the Bears cap space so it could be a case with all three returning on one-year contracts, but the team also bringing in job competition. Then again, the contributions of a few were low enough the team could just go straight to a replacement.

Cole could expect competition. 

It's not difficult to find veteran journeymen linebackers who can help on special teams, late-round linebacker draft picks or even undrafted rookie free agents. Cole played only three snaps of defense at backup linebacker last year. Rookie fifth-rounder Noah Sewell was the other backup and the Bears could look for even more linebackers in the draft.  

For all of his "juice," as Hightower put it, Cole was involved in only four special teams tackles. Four Bears made more, including leaders Jaylon Jones and Travis Homer with seven each.

A key special teams spot where a real challenge can definitely be anticipated is punt returner. Because Velus Jones Jr. hasn't really picked up on the assignment of punt returns, this is a spot where Trent Taylor has a chance to return to the roster.

However, Taylor was a last-minute replacement after an injury to receiver/returner Dante Pettis.

The Bears needed someone dependable at fielding punts after two Jones muffs in 2022 helped cost them games. Tucker seemed to fill this adequately until he muffed two punts against Cleveland and recovered one himself, while Tyrique Stevenson bailed him out with an interception right after the lost muffed punt.

Taylor wasn't good enough at returns to warrant an automatic contract offer. His 8.2-yard average was only 20th in the league. Pettis had averaged 9.1 yards the previous year and caught 19 passes, while Taylor had no receptions.

The ideal situation for the Bears would be to add a receiver, back or defensive back who returns both punts and kicks and contributes positionally.

Bears UFA Projections

LS Patrick Scales

Measurements: 6-foot-3, 226 pounds

Age: 36

2023 Cap Cost: $1.3 million

2023 Production: 17 games played.

Years with Bears: 9

Years in the NFL: 10

BearDigest 2024 UFA Projection: One-year contract

LB Dylan Cole

Measurements: 6-foot 240

Age: 29

2023 Cap Cost: $1.1 million

2023 Production: 16 games, no starts, four special teams tackles.

Years with Bears: 1

Years in the NFL: 7

BearDigest 2024 UFA Projection: Leaving

WR/PR Trent Taylor

Measurements: 5-8, 178

Age: 29

2023 Cap Cost: $1.1 million

2023 Production: No receptions, two targets; one rush, minus-2 yards; 23 punt returns, 8.2-yard average, long of 31 yards, two fumbles, one lost.

Years with Bears: 1

Years in the NFL: 6

BearDigest 2024 UFA Projection: Leaving