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John Dorsey could turn to Chase Daniel to solve his QB problem

Cleveland could be looking for their own Case Keenum in 2018.
Josh Edwards - 3 hours ago

The Cleveland Browns would like to add a veteran quarterback this off-season rather than placing the franchise on the shoulder's of a rookie yet again.

The team was unable to complete a trade for quarterback Alex Smith. Where might General Manager John Dorsey turn next? One player that makes sense is New Orleans Saints quarterback Chase Daniel.

Daniel is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this off-season. CBS Sports' Joel Corry was quick to associate the two parties.

"A name to keep an eye on if you're going to draft a quarterback and you need a stop gap guy - Chase Daniel. Also has a relationship with John Dorsey. Would come in and be the starter for you potentially," Corry said with Ken Carman and Anthony Lima.

Daniel signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in March of 2016. He was released the following off-season after Carson Wentz had cemented himself as the starter. The Saints were willing to add him on a one-year deal. Prior to signing in Philadelphia, Dorsey had expressed his desire to retain Daniel.

“We've had Chase here for three years. I think Chase is a very competitive player. I think we were very lucky to have him as our number two quarterback. Just a couple hours ago, I've had discussions with his agent. Going to see where they were in the process," Dorsey said in February of 2016.

“At the right price, I'll try to retain him but the right price. But I understand the business of the game of football. And he's going to want to be able to see if he can start. I do believe he's capable of doing that. So that process will be ongoing. It will take a couple weeks here before we sit down with his agent some more."

Daniel, an undrafted free agent out of Missouri, has had to compete his entire career. In eight seasons, the 31 year old has completed 51-of-78 passes for 480 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

"I happen to love Chase Daniel. I love his competitive zeal, how smart he is, how knowledgeable he is about the game. I'm also a realist to know that at the certain point if he's getting starter's money I'm not going to be able to retain him," Dorsey finished.

Cleveland's General Manager is likely looking for someone to serve as a mentor for the eventual No. 1 overall selection.

Author
Josh Edwards

Chase Daniel instead of Alex Smith is quite a step down.

Although, we really don't know much about the guy to say whether he's decent or not, except he's 31 and still in the NFL.

If we go into the season with him as a starter, that's a big question mark IMO though.

If we draft Josh Rosen (and Daniel is brought in to be his backup/mentor/competition in training camp) then Daniel sounds fine. Darnold or Mayfield, I dunno how comfortable I can feel with that one.


Obviously, we can only get what we can get. But other FAs (not named Cousins) I'd prefer would be Bradford and Bridgewater. If Tyrod Taylor is available, him too. Maybe McCaron. But, if Dorsey really knows this guy, and really feels good about him, I guess I'd put him in the same boat as McCaron (not personally comfortable, but have to trust the organization who've had experience with the guy)

I don't want McCown as a possible starting QB of the Browns

I'd prefer McCown above both, but I'd take Daniels over McCarron in a heartbeat. Taylor would be somewhere between McCown and Daniels for me.

Do not hire Hue's choice as a sop. And I wouldn't let him campaign and carry on about a guy. I like trusting Dorsey for a change.

If they don't get Cousins, I don't care who they get. It will be another season on the build. McCown, Bradford, Bridgewater are all three 1 tackle/slip away from a season ending injury. The only starter ready draft pick (Rosen) is a concussion away from multiple games on the bench. Everyone else is a project, possibly good projects, but projects nonetheless.

I'm not expecting playoffs, even if we get Cousins, but I would love more than 1 - 3 wins... It's wait til next year already

I'd only be comfortable bringing them BOTH in as a package deal. M.A.S.H. Unit.

Darnold is NOT a project ...

Darnold certainly IS a prospect.

Projects aren't drafted #1 ...

Had we gotten Smith we could have drafted Darnold at #1 and let him sit for a year or two. Darnold has a lot of work to do on his mechanics/throwing motion/reading coverages and more. I would hate to see him work on those things while expected to be the starter and win games. That's what we did with Kizer. Way too much to think about.

I know that teams are expected to start their 1st round QBs right away. But the whole idea of a "bridge" QB is so that a vet is manning the position while the rookie can acclimate himself to the NFL, his particular team and to work on his shortcomings.

It doesn't have to be for two years or even a full year. But being thrown into the fire when you don't even know what it's like to be an NFL player yet is asking for a huge uphill struggle.

Rosen is the most ready to start day one but even he can benefit getting a little time to acclimate.

Just my 2-cents.

Chase Daniel is very easy to bench midseason, so he's got that going for him.

I agree. The "bridge QB' is the way to go, even if we draft QB #1. If the rookie beats the guy out of the box no loss. I just see it as necessary for these rookie QBs coming into the league.
They need to learn to read defenses at pro speed and study tendencies for a year or so, since most don't even do it at the college level. Letting them learn from sitting behind a guy who is successful helps them grow.

I want a FA Qb, one that has won a game or two preferably. One with starting experience. Then let that first round QB become connected at the hip with them. An apprenticeship type situation. If the FA keeps winning, better yet. More time to groom the rookie.

Back in the day they used to sit QBs for a couple of years. But when the team owners started out-bidding each other for the latest greatest QB resulting in a $50 million contract. With that much invested teams felt they couldn't afford to sit him. The new method became that he had to start right away.

Now that they've got the rookie contracts under control teams aren't bound by those huge, bank-breaking paydays. They're not paying a rookie QB $12 million to sit the first year.

I'm starting to think, just get a vet QB who is more accurate than Kizer, should be one under a rock somewhere, and he would do a lot better than last year. Then we can take the time to groom our #1 pick until he's ready.

Yes, they used to actually say, "Grooming a quarterback". That's like you gotta wash his face, put on some clean socks and comb his hair before he steps out on the field. I don't think it has ever hurt a QB. What has hurt a good number of them has been to be drafted high onto a bad team

I don't think the Rams got the memo on that one (if a guy sitting a year and not starting right off the bat makes him a project). They sat Goff his first year.

Did you see the Cotton Bowl ???? Darnold is a project.

90% of the QB's drafted at #1 have been projects.

So what we have here is a difference in opinion on what a project is. To me, if the QB is not ready to start because he has a lot of shortcomings to work on first then, he is a project.

If he's Josh Rosen who has near perfect mechanics and footwork, has the ability to read coverages and is able to make any NFL throw with a high degree of accuracy then, he is not a project.

Darnold does not fit that description. He needs work in all those areas.

It would still benefit Rosen to sit behind a vet to get some time to learn what it's like being an NFL player without the pressure of having to start right away, to do never ending film study on NFL defenses and some more time learning the playbook and running the scout team. He could still start game 1 but would benefit from time on the sideline.

Darnold shouldn't start game 1. He needs work.

Who is Josh Edwards? Does he have inside information?

Draft position does not determine who is a project or not. It’s the actual player.

Josh Allen is a project. He will be a project if he is drafted at #1, #2, #10 or #100. He is what he is, a project. His draft position will not change that.

I would agree with this...

I think you could also say any quarterback drafted this year is a project.

Yes, you could. I picked one that I think most people would consider a project.

Brandon Weeden is 34 and still in the NFL too lol more or less, doesn't mean they are any good....mainly just not enough viable bodies at the hardest position perhaps in the world (sports related)

I think the same of Darnold for the most part. Maybe a project a tad further along but still a project.

Last year everyone was saying tank the season, most claiming this was the best group of QB's since the 1983 class, NOW there all projects ...

Rosen isn't a project.

And people are right to do so.

Firstly, all rookie quarterbacks are projects. Obviously, the learning curve from college to the NFL is extensive.

Secondly, this class doesn't have a prospect who is legitimately pro-ready. The closest, in my opinion, is Rosen, but he's got two-and-a-half years in a pro-style offense that carried a lot of spread concepts. He, too, will have a lot of learn and require a lot more refinement. This is an exciting class, they're all really talented, but not so much in terms of what we should expect immediately.

We're not going to land a prospect who should be expected to do something out of the norm. Especially on a team that requires a lot more building itself. Most rookie QB success can be correlated to a strong team. Like Wentz, Mahomes and Watson; All three of whom went to good teams who had to trade up for them.

It shouldn't scare the Browns away from making the selection, but it would also be foolish to treat "project" as a dirty or derogatory word. Rookies suck, and we should temper our expectations. The plug-and-play myth extends to just a few rookie quarterbacks, most of which were scheme assists (Newton and Wilson, for example, got an assist from the success of the option), or they went to a really good team (Watson, Wilson), or they merely had success amongst a lot of frustrating failure (Luck, Wentz, Stafford, Ryan etc.)

If we're going to use the first overall selection on a quarterback, I don't want to see him get Kizer'd. He's going to make us rip our hair out from time to time, but we need to be patient and build around him.

He will be a project to varying extent. That doesn't mean he shouldn't be the pick.

So Wentz was a project and the Mannings, Rothlisberger, Rodgers, Flacco, Ryan, Stafford, Newton, Marriota, Andrew Luck were all projects?

Most viewed Wentz as being very talented and his only real concern was lack of playing time in college.

Damn right. It's not even a question unless you've never actually watched football.

Wentz started hot. When teams got a book on him, he fell off. His completion percentage plummeted from 66% down to 60%. He threw 11 interceptions to 7 touchdowns. Don't mythologize him. He was largely uneven. Middle of the season they went 2-9 in which he maybe played three good games.

The Mannings? The one who got benched as a rookie, or the one who set the record for most turnovers by a rookie QB going 3-13?

Roethlisberger? 17 touchdowns to 11 interceptions with only 2,600 passing yards. That's not a successful rookie season. He played average for years on a team that had the foundations of an incredible dynasty.

Rodgers? The guy who literally didn't play the first three years of his career is your example of not being a project?

Flacco? 14 touchdowns to 12 interceptions? Another guy on a great team, but nothing about him was great nor ready. He only had three games as a rookie in which he actually threw for over 200 yards. That's mental.

Ryan? 16 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. He wasn't Flacco bad, but he still wasn't very good.

Stafford? The only reason he didn't break (P) Manning's turnover record was because he only played 10 games. 20 interceptions in 10 games, even with some elite talent around him. Yeesh.

Newton was excellent, but again, the option was a large part of it. Same reason RG3 was awesome. Teams couldn't stop it, and Newton was utterly dominant, but he absolutely was raw as all get out.

Mariota was incredibly uneven. 19 touchdowns to 10 interceptions is a pretty decent job, but he had three games with four touchdowns while largely struggling in the rest of his games. That's why they went 3-9. When Mariota was on, he was on. If he was off, he was off. He wasn't pro-ready in the slightest.

As for Luck, that's another elite prospect who made as many mistakes as he did successes. 10 fumbles, 18 interceptions, 54% complete. And that's as a guy who was as elite, pro-ready as any prospect comes.

There isn't a Cam Newton, Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck in this draft. They were elite, sure-fire prospects. We don't have one sitting there to take.

So, uh, I'm struggling to figure out what about these guys wasn't a project. None of them really played at an elite level. Some of them played really good, but they all largely struggled. Some of them did some winning, but a large part of that was due to what I mentioned in my OP.

All of them were projects - and, again, all of them deserving selections who developed in to fantastic players.

Even cherry-picking the best ten players from, what, the last twenty years? There isn't a legitimate "pro-ready" guy who didn't require a lot of development and time.

Goodness.

Wow ok let me go back a little farther ... Elway, Marino, Kelly, Kosar .. Never mind you won't understand

Feeling's mutual.

I gotta agree with BDU, all QB's coming out are projects. Peyton Manning was pretty close to the most pro ready QB possibly ever,and even he needed coaching. Arians I believe helped him to be a lot more ready his second year.

Correct. You start him midway through his rookie year, at the latest.

Btw I'd be happy if we got cousins but that is highly doubtful.

I dunno. I think this was a pretty successful rookie season.

Surrounded by talent, "Big Ben" went an NFL-record 13–0 as a rookie starting quarterback, shattering the old NFL record (and coincidentally, also the team record) of 6–0 to start an NFL career set by Mike Kruczek filling in for an injured Terry Bradshaw in 1976.

He had a nice rookie season. I also don't agree that he "played average for years",