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Chase Daniel is heading West. The former backup quarterback for the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints, among others, has just signed a one-year deal to play for the Los Angeles Chargers. NFL insider Adam Schefter originally reported the news via Twitter, and Daniel confirmed it shortly after.
“Can’t wait to get to L.A. to wear those powder blues baby!! LETS GO!” Daniel Tweeted.
Daniel will be reunited with a familiar face in Brandon Staley, the new head coach of the Chargers. Staley knows Daniel from their time in Chicago during the 2018 season when the current Chargers coach served as the Bears’ outside linebackers coach.
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Daniel Will Mentor Yet Another Young Quarterback
Daniel has made quite a career for himself as a backup quarterback in the league. He entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2010, spending his first three seasons backing up Drew Brees in New Orleans. He spent three years with the Kansas City Chiefs after that, from 2013-15, before year-long stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and Saints (again). He wound up in Chicago from 2018-19, where he mentored Mitch Trubisky and made three of his five career starts.
The journeyman backup played for the Detroit Lions backing up Matthew Stafford last season, and now, he’ll be backing up last year’s Rookie of the Year Justin Herbert, who started 15 games in 2020, completing 66.6% of his passes for 4,336 yards and 31 touchdowns.
Daniel himself has five starts in his 11-year career, going 2-3 in those games. He has completed 68.2 percent of his passes for 1,694 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions.
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Daniel is Comfortable in His Role as Backup
“I’ve been in the league a long time — I don’t want to show my age too much,” Daniel told the Chicago Tribune in 2019. “But you never really know when (your opportunities) are going to come as a backup quarterback. My mindset is always just be ready, be ready.”
His current contract is a modest one — the 34-year-old quarterback will make $1.5 million with the Chargers in 2021 — but Daniel has become well known for earning a hefty sum for taking minimal reps. That said, his value as a mentor is likely what Los Angeles is paying him for.
“I know Chase,” Bears head coach Matt Nagy told NBC Sports in 2019 when explaining the value Daniel has as a veteran backup in this league. “For me, he’s a coach out there on the field. He gets so many things that people don’t see. He gets people aligned in the huddle the right way, he’s looking at the play clock, he makes things a lot easier for you as a coach than a lot of other different quarterbacks in that spot.”
The Chargers will be Daniel’s sixth team in 11 seasons.
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