Getty Images Chase Daniel Warmining up with the Bears.
The Chicago Bears may be on a roll, but their Thanksgiving game just got a lot tougher for Thursday. Last week, Bears’ starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky suffered a shoulder injury that would keep him sidelined for practice all week. While the Bears have made it clear that if Week 12’s game were to be played on Sunday, Trubisky would more than likely have the chance to play. But since it’s a short week, there’s not enough time to heal up.
With that news, it looks like the Bears are going to roll with their backup quarterback, Chase Daniel on Turkey Day. This won’t be the first time we’re getting some backup-turned-starter, quarterback action this season. And it probably won’t be the last. But as Daniel prepares for his first start of the season, we have yet, another Daily Fantasy dilemma.
Who is crazy enough to start Chase Daniel on Thursday? With a small slate for the first set of games for Week 12, there is going to be a small percentage of Daily Fantasy players who will choose to take a gamble on paying up for Chase Daniel. Seeing how much success Bears head coach Matt Nagy found in his first season as head coach with Trubisky, many assume that Daniel could have a similar boost in production. Is he worth a play, though?
Is Chase Daniel Worth the Gamble?
Mitchell Trubisky woke up sore today and with less movement in his shoulder than expected, making it likely Chase Daniel will start Thanksgiving Day vs Lions, per source. Bears could activate QB Tyler Bray today to backup Daniel, with possibility that Trubisky now will not dress.
On the Thanksgiving slate for DraftKings, Daniel costs just $4,400, which is $100 cheaper than New Orleans Saints backup quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater. As expected, Daniel will be the most inexpensive starting quarterback for the week. Playing Daniel leaves a ton of money left for other key players, but is he genuinely worth the gamble?
Let’s see, the matchup is definitely favorable towards Chicago. The Detroit Lions defense is ranked 28th for points given up for quarterbacks fantasy wise. If Trubisky were under center, it would be a no-brainer to play him. But we have to assume that Daniel won’t play nearly as well as Trubisky could. Considering that Chase Daniel sees the third start of his long NFL career, this could go very bad in the end if he clearly has an off day, but this might be a risk worth taking.
The Bears offense has been nothing short of spectacular throughout the first stretch of the season. Chase Daniel might not be the NFL’s most productive backup, but he will be set up for success as he’s surrounded with stellar weapons on as Nagy runs the offense. Daniel’s track record makes it hard to be confident in him, but having no game film on Daniel since pretty much the 2014 season makes it very difficult for Detroit to prepare for what Chicago is going to do.