Thread: Bears replace Laptad with Massey

Sure didn't. Toub seemed so positive about him too. Maybe just a case of not being able to work under pressure which is not what you want in your LS. Thanks for the update Benji.

Bears sign veteran long snapper Massey

Staff report 2:33 p.m. CST, November 24, 2011


The Chicago Bears made another move Thursday to replace injured long snapper Patrick Mannelly, signing Chris Massey to a one-year contract and waiving Jake Laptad. (At an even 6' and only 237 lbs he's bit smaller than what we're used to but he's a 10 year vet. He came out of Marshall so Henry should like him. Must be an FOC, friend of Chad)

Laptad had been signed earlier in the week after Mannelly was lost to a season-ending knee injury in Sunday's win over the San Diego Chargers.
Massey offers more experience than Laptad, having played in 135 games in nine seasons with the St. Louis Rams.

Massey won a three-man tryout the team held Thursday morning. Also brought in for a look was James Dearth, a veteran who has bounced around five NFL teams, and Christian Yount, a rookie who snapped for the first six games this season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Massey had just one bad snap in nine seasons with the Rams, and was considered one of the top candidates after Mannelly suffered a torn ACL in his left knee. Massey made good on 1,050 of 1,051 snaps, according to Bill Coats of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was cut loose in August, in part because he was scheduled to earn $1.375 million this season.

The Bears will owe Laptad a game check for this week -- a little more than $22,000 for a rookie. Obviously, he didn't perform perfectly in practice and the Bears wanted security offered by a veteran with a 7-3 record and in the thick of the NFC playoff race.

Laptad, an undrafted free agent from Kansas, spent training camp with the Bears and was on the practice squad for two weeks last month.

Brad Biggs contributed.

vxmcclure@tribune.com

Twitter @vxmcclure23

Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
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Meet our new long snapper. He's more important than you think!

Chris Massey isn’t a star like Devin Hester, but his role will be crucial
By Mark Potash mpotash@suntimes.com November 25, 2011 10:16PM
Updated: November 25, 2011 10:20PM



Devin Hester and Chris Massey are on opposite ends of the spectrum as special-teams players for the Bears. Hester is the greatest kick returner in NFL history. Massey is a typically anonymous long snapper who nobody in Chicago had ever heard of before he signed with the Bears on Thursday, even though he has played nine seasons in the NFL.

But Hester and Massey will be focal points when the Bears visit the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. In fact, you can argue that the unheralded Massey might be under the microscope even more than Hester as the replacement for veteran long snapper Pat Mannelly, who was put on injured reserve after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in last week’s victory over the San Diego Chargers.
The Bears listed Hester as probable for the game against the Raiders even though he didn’t practice this week because of a ‘‘nagging’’ shin injury that Hester said has been bothering him the last two weeks.

Hester, though, didn’t practice much last week, either, and returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown against the Chargers despite a fever of 103. But it never hurts to list Hester as probable whether he’s going to play or not. Earl Bennett will return punts and Johnny Knox will handle kickoff returns if Hester can’t play.

‘‘Devin is getting better,’’ coach Lovie Smith said. ‘‘We kept him out one more day, but he should be able to go [Sunday].’’

With Jay Cutler likely out for the rest of the regular season with a broken right thumb he suffered against the Chargers, Hester and the entire special-teams units figure to bear an even greater responsibility as the Bears try to stay on course for a playoff berth.

‘‘I think we have that mentality every week,’’ special-teams coordinator Dave Toub said. ‘‘We always want to have a positive impact on the game. Our situation now is no different. They’re a good team. They have a lot of speed — that’s one thing they have across the board.’’

The Raiders won’t have as much speed as they usually do. Kick returner Jacoby Ford, the 4.28 sprinter who is averaging 31 yards per kickoff return, including a 101-yard touchdown, will not play because of a foot injury. But it’s their overall team speed on special teams that makes them dangerous.

Perhaps that’s one reason why the Bears were not willing to take any chances when it came to replacing Mannelly.They signed rookie Jake Laptad on Wednesday, but after Laptad struggled in practice, the Bears cut him and signed Massey.

The Bears paid a price for the misjudgment — Laptad will get a one-week rookie salary of $22,000 for being on the roster for two days. But a rookie mistake in a game could be much more costly. Last year, the Chargers took a recently signed long snapper, veteran Ethan Albright, to Oakland. The Chargers’ first two punts were blocked, and the Raiders returned a third punt 46 yards. The Chargers lost 35-27. They cut Albright two days later and finished 9-7 — one game out of a playoff spot.

‘‘I think we got it right — that’s the bottom line,’’ Toub said. ‘‘Sometimes it takes a couple of days to get it right, and that’s what we did. Chris Massey’s going to do a great job for us.’’ How does that happen? After Mannelly was put on injured reserve, the Bears turned to Laptad, a rookie defensive end in training camp who long-snapped in the Bears’ last preseason game against the Cleveland Browns.

‘‘We were trying to show full confidence in him,’’ Toub said. ‘‘You don’t want to crack his confidence by possibly bringing in a lot of guys [to try out]. We wanted to give him a good shot. And he’s just not ready yet.

‘‘He’s a rookie. You put him in a situation where he’s snapping in front of a lot of guys — the whole team — and it just doesn’t work out. He’s just not accurate enough. Maybe down the road [he’ll be ready], but not right now. So we had to move in a different direction and get somebody with more experience.’’