Philadelphia Eagles: Sam Bradford or Chase Daniel?
As the latest move in their already active off season, the Philadelphia Eagles went out and signed quarterback Chase Daniel to a free agent contract. Will Daniel come in as the starter or is Sam Bradford still the guy in Philly?
This off season has mostly been about dumping unwanted players for the Philadelphia Eagles. Getting rid of CB Byron Maxwell, LB Kiko Alonso and RB DeMarco Murray was obviously an important part of the Eagles’ off season plans, but they made a potentially significant addition to their roster on Wednesday by bringing in quarterback Chase Daniel.
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According to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Caplan, the Daniel’s deal with the Eagles is for three years. It is a $21 million deal, with $12 million guaranteed. Caplan also reports that the deal could be worth as much as $36 million. Escalator incentives are clearly added to this contract.
From @adamschefter and I: Chase Daniel agreed to a 3-year, $21m deal with $12m fully guaranteed with #Eagles.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) March 9, 2016
Total package for Daniel worth $36m. Monster deal for him.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) March 9, 2016
That contract for Daniel is not the kind of deal we would typically see for a back-up quarterback. However, after re-signing Sam Bradford to a two-year contract with $22 million guaranteed (up to $36 million in incentives), it is fair to wonder what the Eagles are doing. They are pouring a ton of money into the quarterback position with two different unproven options.
The only way to look at this is to assume that we have an old-fashioned training camp battle for the quarterback position on our hands. Well, according to NFL Network reporter Albert Breer, that is exactly what is going on.
The Eagles will be giving new QB Chase Daniel every chance to wrest the starting job from Sam Bradford, per source. Not signed as a backup.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 9, 2016
If the contract was not obvious enough, Breer hammers home the point. Chase Daniel was not signed by the Philadelphia Eagles to be a backup quarterback. He has a history with new Eagles head coach Doug Peterson, and Peterson has clearly sold the Eagles’ front office on his ability to be a potential starting NFL quarterback.
The 29-year-old Daniel has been an NFL player for six seasons and has never sniffed a starting role. He was Drew Brees‘ backup with the New Orleans Saints for three seasons, before being brought in by the Kansas City Chiefs to back up Alex Smith. Daniel showed some nice ability in a limited role in Kansas City, but was never been able to force the issue to possibly becoming a starter.
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This is Daniel’s first, and probably only, opportunity to become an NFL starting quarterback. He is thought of as smart quarterback with solid accuracy and great decision-making skills. His familiarity with Peterson’s offense is certainly a plus, but there is so much unknown here. We simply have not seen enough of Daniel in the NFL to give an accurate assessment of his skills.
He was a great college quarterback at the University of Missouri, but that was over six years ago. How much of that would even be relevant in this discussion?
Bradford is the far more established player, but based on his performance throughout his career, I am not so sure that is a good thing. Bradford has never been anything more than a league average quarterback, and has never shown the ability to lead a team to success. Obviously, injuries have held him back throughout his career, but Bradford has never been very impressive even when consistently taking the field.
The Eagles will undoubtedly let them battle it out, and let the best man win in training camp. Bradford probably has the upper hand right now based on his experience and being the incumbent starter. However, if this is solely Peterson’s decision to make, Daniel will have a strong opportunity to take the job away from Bradford.
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The incumbent has the experience, but when his results have never been that impressive, would you be better off going with the unknown of the challenger? That will be up to Doug Peterson and the Eagles’ organization to figure out this off season.