Saints quarterback Drew Brees knows Chase Daniel well, based on their four prior years together in New Orleans. Daniel has now returned as the backup to Brees, after four years elsewhere but no chance to become the starter.
Brees visited Friday’s PFT Live, and he was asked how surprised he is by the fact that Daniel has yet to become a starter.
“It actually surprises me greatly, and yet it fits the profile,” Brees said. “When Chase Daniel walks into the room, nobody’s gonna be impressed with his physical attributes. You know, he’s under six feet tall, he doesn’t look on the surface like an NFL quarterback, and yet he has the ‘it’ factor. And that’s something you can’t measure, and a lot of time you can’t figure that out from an interview or what have you. But watch the tape on that guy from the preseason to the opportunity that he got to start two games in Kansas City.
“The guy is a competitive guy, who is extremely intelligent. He loves the game of football, and he’s gonna be a great starting quarterback in this league at some point. It’s just a matter of somebody looking beyond all that other junk, he’s not the prototypical six-four, 220-pound guy that you would draft in the first round, but he’s got all the intangibles.”
Brees knows a thing or two (or 5,000 in five different seasons) about performing well despite lacking the textbook quarterback measurables. For Daniel, the question becomes whether a coach and/or G.M. will see Daniel the way Brees sees him. If/when that happens -- and if/when Daniel becomes a “great starting quarterback” -- plenty of teams that are constantly searching for a quality throwers of the football will be kicking themselves in the ass.