Before the Detroit Lions signed veteran long snapper Jake McQuaide this offseason, they told the two-time Pro Bowler he would have to beat out incumbent Scott Daly to win a spot on the 53-man roster.
Any ties would go to Daly, who was younger and cheaper entering his third NFL season.
“They said you got to come here and compete and the reality is — and Scott knows the same thing — is like, whether there’s another guy in there or not, you’re competing against a standard,” McQuaide said. “And if you get caught up in the, ‘Oh, he did this today, I did that,’ and same thing for a kicker. It’s not about that. It’s about playing to a standard or above a standard, and then if you do that, you’re going to be playing somewhere, whether it’s here or not, and that’s always been my focus when I’ve had guys come in and compete against me, and that’s my focus when I’m coming in and competing against Scott.”
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McQuaide and Daly have alternated days working with the first- and second-team field goal and punt units this summer, and their competition is one of the most black-and-white of training camp.
One will make the roster Aug. 26, the other will be out of work.
McQuaide, at 35 the oldest player on the Lions roster, played 10 NFL seasons for the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams and made Pro Bowls in 2016-17. He spent the past two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, but missed the final 13 games last year with a torn triceps.
A Cincinnati native whose family still lives in the area, he reached out to the Lions this offseason looking for work. He wanted to play close to home, for a team that had a chance to go far in the playoffs, with a quarterback he could trust and a coach who values special teams.
The Lions checked all those boxes, and had a general manager in Brad Holmes who McQuaide knew from the Rams.
“It was like a no-brainer,” he said.
The Lions, meanwhile, were interested in finding competition for Daly, who played well in his second season with the Lions in 2022 but had plateaued in his growth.
“Daly’s done a great job since he’s been here, but at the end of last season I felt like personally — and him and I’ve talked about this — but I felt like personally he didn’t make the step forward that we wanted to see from him from the year before,” Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said. “We thought he got better, but maybe he could get better at a faster rate and sometimes competition helps accelerate that process. And then the McQuaid thing kind of fell into our hands. So our plan was to bring in another guy, and we didn’t think it was necessarily a veteran guy like that.”
McQuaide said he feels back to his pre-injury self, and both Fipp and head coach Dan Campbell said they are happy with the competition so far.
McQuaide has snapped well, and his presence has brought out the best in Daly.
“I feel like Daly’s game is elevated,” Campbell said. “He’s gotten better. His speed of his snaps, location, getting out of his stance and protection are — like it’s showing up. And really, Quaide’s been coming off the injury, but I feel like over the last week, you can see him — he’s getting back into what he’s accustomed to. So, I just think it’s no different than any other position. We’re trying to pull the most out of these guys and let the best man win.”
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Big year ahead for St. Brown
Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown finished seventh in the NFL with 106 receptions last season. Given his work ethic, Campbell is banking on another big year from his star wideout in 2023.
“You see him pre-practice, you see him post-practice, he doesn’t change one thing,” Campbell said. “When you do that, there’s no way he’s not going to have a big year. There’s no way. Because he’s not changed one thing. And I know this, if I’m a young guy, I’m watching him every play. I would be, they should be, so he’s unbelievable, he really is.”
St. Brown has followed the same post-practice routine — catching 202 balls from close range off a JUGS machine —since long before he entered the NFL. He does push-ups for every drop he has, and if he catches every pass, the Lions equipment personnel feeding him the balls do push-ups instead.
Campbell said St. Brown’s work ethic “sets the bar” for the team.
“He’s one of those pieces that sets the bar as to, that’s the beginning,” Campbell said. “That’s where it is and now, can we get above that? Because I know this, if it’s below, it isn’t good enough and because that guy, the way he comes out every day, he has not changed one bit since he was a rookie. I mean he does all the same things that has validated what he’s done and the production that has come by the way that he works. He just goes. And it’s every little thing, every little detail, he finishes.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.