Notre Dame Football: Who Wants Scott Daly?

Everyone seems to forget that longer snappers exist. But Notre Dame football has one that people have their eye on, and by people, we mean NFL teams.

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Most times, long snappers aren’t a player teams use a draft pick on. Maybe, one or two go in the draft, but if none are selected, it’s no surprise. Scott Daly isn’t a player a team will likely draft, but he is going to have a long and successful NFL career.

“Daly got the size. He’s 250 pounds. He ran OK – 5.05, 5.08 (seconds) in that area,” NFL Network analyst, Mike Mayock, said on The Jack Swarbrick Show. “So, if you can be a consistent long snapper, you can play a lot of years in this league and have a pretty good living.”

Everyone sees it. There are only a few long snappers a year that actually have a shot in the NFL. With the length of their careers, there aren’t many spots open for long snappers entering the league. But if you’re one of the best, you usually get your chance to prove your worth.

In Matt Miller’s latest mock draft, Daly doesn’t hear his name called. That’s no surprise. Where he’ll find his future is after the draft when he’ll likely sign. At 6’1, 250-pounds, he’s the perfect size for a pro long snapper. Add his impressive Notre Dame Pro Day, running a 5.05 40-yard dash and 20 reps on the bench press, and Daly becomes a very attractive asset to a special teams unit.

Former Chicago Bears long snapper, Patrick Mannelly, one of Daly’s biggest icons, worked with Daly a few times. Maybe not all NFL scouts know everything there is to know about long snappers, but taking it from a former professional, Mannelly agrees that the NFL-bound senior has a bright future.

“Every time I work with him or taught him something or mention something, he got way better at it,” Mannelly told JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago. “And that shocked me. I’ve worked with kids, a lot of kids, and they get a little bit better, and they put their work in. He seems to me to be a guy who wants to be perfect at it and wants to be great at it, and every time I’ve worked with him, he just got so much better from last year to this year.”

People talk about DeShone Kizer and Jarron Jones all the time. It’s hard to compare a possible top 10 pick to a long snapper. But if you look at everyone heading to the draft from South Bend, Daly and Kizer could be the top two. Not the best overall players, but both of them are near the top in their position.

Guessing where a long snapper is going to sign, especially one that likely won’t get drafted is impossible. The one thing we can almost guarantee, though, is that he will be on an NFL roster in 2017.

Next: 5 Undervalued Notre Dame Recruits

There will be four or five Notre Dame players drafted this April. The one who signs after the draft may finish with the best career with them all. Most don’t know of Scott Daly, but he will make his mark in the NFL.