Ex-Mizzou star Daniel has chance to alter course of Chiefs' season -- or his career
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A mildly interesting dance with Team Rivers -- win or stay home, or win and very likely stay home anyway -- is now potentially fascinating, possibly riveting, Week 17 theater. Chase Daniel could forever alter the course of the Kansas City Chiefs' season. Or his career.
Or both. Or neither.
So while we weep for Alex Smith's lacerated spleen -- No. 11 is as level as they come, steady as a metronome, win or lose, good times or bad -- we love a little chaos now and again.
And Daniel playing well Sunday? Chaos. With ribbons and a bow on top.
Because, regardless of whether the Chiefs beat San Diego on Sunday, Good Chase means nearly everyone in town will be asking for No. 10 every time Doctor Alex checks down or whiffs on a skinny post. Book it.
The one thing Andy Reid hasn't had to juggle yet in Kansas City is a good old-fashioned NFL quarterback controversy, getting asked every other hour who'll be starting under center when the curtain goes up. Listen, Big Red is tired enough of us as it is.
Conversely, if Daniel plays poorly, or even middlingly, well ... he could be out on his ear. The former Mizzou star takes up $1.8 million in cap space this year and, more significantly, $3.4 million the next, and $4.8 million the year after that. That's a lot of beans for a backup, especially when star pass rusher Justin Houston will be demanding more beans to stay in-house. And when rookie quarterback Aaron Murray can tread water and hold a clipboard at a sixth of the cost (2015 cap number: $563,606; '16: $654,106).
Strategically, the key to San Diego isn't all that different than the key to Denver, regardless of who's under center: Play clean, play sound, no turnovers or short fields, and keep Philip Rivers on the sideline. When the Chiefs knocked off the Chargers, 23-20, on Oct. 19 in SoCal, they had the ball for 39 minutes -- and for all but 62 seconds during the third quarter. The best thing for Daniel, just as it would have been for Smith, is to control the chains and the clock. No. 17 can't beat you if he's standing on the sideline with his arms folded, tapping his foot like the silly Trix Rabbit.
Lookin' good! Flip through our photo album of Chiefs cheerleaders.
While straightforward, it's not as interesting as other potential subplots -- namely, the irony that Smith's four-year extension through 2018, worth a reported $68 million, could also be handicapping the Chiefs from actually protecting that aforementioned investment, to say nothing of No. 11's ribcage. A patchwork offensive line is cute and all, until the seams give way and dogs start tearing the stuffing out of your most precious.
The Chiefs have financially handcuffed themselves to the 30-year-old starter through at least the end of next fall, but the fan base, well, not so much. They don't hate Smith, per se, but they hate the extension, and passionately. No. 11 isn't quite near Jay Cutler territory, where the locals are marching with torches toward the building, screaming "ANYBODY BUT HIM." But Smith is starting to veer dangerously close to Joe Flacco territory, where instead of outright hate (Cutler), it's resentment over the solid-but-not-spectacular results failing to match the chunk that he happens to be taking out of the salary-cap pie chart ($15.6 million in 2015, $17.8 million in '16, $16.9 million in '17) in the short term.
The talk-show callers start to pine for those two draft picks back from the 49ers (who, to be fair, are a six-ton dumpster fire on wheels right now), and the narrative of, "Well, at least you won't sink with Alex Smith" becomes "Yeah, but how far will you swim?"
Which swings us back to Daniel, and what makes Sunday -- his Sunday -- so interesting. A career backup, No. 10 played well last December in San Diego, a Week 17 pinch start minus several starters with the Chiefs' playoff slot already locked and assured. For the Chargers, then, as now, it was win or else, and the ex-Mizzou standout responded by completing 21 of 30 throws for 200 yards and a touchdown. Reid's "B" team played loose, the Bolts looked tight, and only a missed Ryan Succop field goal saved San Diego's bacon, allowing the hosts an overtime period and a second gasp of breath.
But unlike last season, the Chiefs have stakes here, too. Kansas City needs a victory and a lot of help from unlikely donors (Jacksonville, Cleveland) to sniff the postseason for a second straight year, but the first part is controlling what you can control. And No. 10 probably controls his NFL fate Sunday -- in Kansas City, or anywhere else.
If Daniel rises to the challenge, overcomes a rice-paper pocket and elevates a mishmash receiving corps, it all becomes a good news/bed news scenario for Reid and the coaching staff, playoffs or otherwise. There's no such thing as too much quality depth. And make no mistake: Alex Smith is their guy. Yet Smith isn't the guy for the masses, and if Daniel shows himself to be No. 11's equal, or even surpasses him in certain aspects -- hello, deep balls -- he vaults himself into one of the most interesting names to watch in Kansas City sports for 2015. There may be no true competition in the mind of the front office and staff. But fans will see it differently, and they will want Chase, demand Chase, if he is what Smith is not.
And if not, well, as you were.
"What this means for me is that (it's) the next game up on our schedule," Daniel told reporters Friday when asked about his personal stakes, "and we have to win to even have a shot at the playoffs."
Fair enough, kiddo, but the keys are in your mitts now. Daniel can try to deflect and dodge the spotlight all he likes; it's still going to find him, eventually. All the world'' indeed a stage, as Rush once sang. And Daniel's stage has never been bigger, never been brighter, than the one he's stepping onto right now.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.
