The Chicago Bears are typically a team defined by three jobs: GM, head coach, and quarterback. Those are the ones fans talk about most due to their obvious importance. At the same time, it makes it so easy to overlook the worker ants who put in so much time and effort to make the team a success but seldom get any of the credit. Few understand this more than the scouts.
These guys sacrifice long hours and travels thousands of miles every year to find players that can turn the Bears into a winner. The only way they ever get recognition is through advancement. That’s how Ryan Pace did it. One can imagine he’s more than happy to do the same for others. Such became the case when he promoted area scout Chris Prescott.
The #Bears have elevated Chris Prescott to fill the team's vacant National Scout role. Prescott started out as a scouting asst w/the #Jaguars in '03 and has been w/Chicago since '15. He's also served w/the #Jets.
— Neil Stratton (@InsideTheLeague) June 13, 2018
Most fans have no idea who this man is so it feels like an appropriate chance to offer a glimpse of where he came from and what he might bring to the table in a greater position of authority. Prescott got his start in the sports business with the Bridgeport Blue Fish in Minor League Baseball. From there he took a chance to intern at Madison Square Garden.
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That opportunity led him to become a scouting assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars. After five years of learning, he took his first big step in becoming an area scout.
Jacksonville Jaguars (2008-2013)
After a brief year as their northwest area scout, Prescott became the southwest regional scout for the Jaguars from 2009 to 2013. While the team struggled overall with their drafts during this time, Prescott came away with some successes. This included California defensive tackle Tyson Alualu, linebacker Brandon Marshall, and punter Brian Anger.
New York Jets (2013-2015)
It’s not known which region Prescott took over when he was hired by the Jets in 2013. Conventional wisdom says they kept him in familiar territory in the southwest. If that’s the case, he secured them their best pick during that period in the guise of Pro Bowl defensive end Leonard Williams.
Chicago Bears (2016-Present)
It appears Prescott returned to the northeast region when he joined the Bears two years ago. He was man selected to break down their picks of Mitch Trubisky and Bilal Nichols following the draft, indicating he was their foremost expert on them. If this is true he also had a hand in the selections of Nick Kwiatkoski, DeAndre Houston-Carson, Adam Shaheen and Tarik Cohen.
That’s not a bad run of names, especially if Trubisky continues to improve as most expect. It would explain why the Bears were more than comfortable promoting him to become their national scout. Pace has loved to reward his own people as he did with Mark Sadowski two years ago. It will be interesting to see how Bears drafts go now that Prescott has his eyes on all the regions instead of just one moving forward.
