By Nick Brinkerhoff
If you read my Father’s Day 2022 article, you’ll know just how high I am on the Los Angeles Chargers this season. They have a great team, a daring coaching staff that loves to be aggressive, and the quarterback I believe will emerge as the league’s best this year. Give me all the Justin Herbert stock.
Unlike cryptocurrency, Herbert is reliable and a constant in a volatile market. While I’d love to go on and on about how great he is, I am not going to be like “crypto dude” who can’t wait to tell you about the next dogecoin. That was a hilarious couple of months we had back in early 2021.
One of my favorite things about living in the northeast, and New Jersey in general, is the diversity of opinions. There is no place to hide here, everything is out in the open. Well, hopefully not everything.
Regardless, you’ll see so many different sports fans and it’s a beautiful thing to see in action. Sports truly galvanize a community in ways other hobbies and interests can only dream of.
For example, riding down the street now, you’ll see so many blue and yellow flags hanging right next to American flags. Which begs the question, are the Chargers now America’s team? To be fair, the Cowboys have been giving America a bad reputation for years.
This is America, where we win all the time. So much so that we’ll get bored, make up our own sport, then declare ourselves “World Champions” despite being the only ones participating.
Now as a Ukrainian myself, I can make those jokes, so canceling me will have to wait for another day. If you are questioning my last name, well, there’s more than meets the eye. If you’re keeping score, it’s now:
Nick-2 and Cancel Culture-0.
Now go grab a pierogi and let’s talk about America’s new team, the Chargers. Can they sustain an injury to Herbert? Let’s find out.
Who is the Los Angeles Chargers backup quarterback?
If you look throughout NFL history, you’d be hard pressed to find a quarterback that has played the game better than Chase Daniel. On the surface, you’re probably saying, “Has this guy lost his mind? Chase Daniel has only started five games in his 13 year career!”
Well, good job reader. You are right, but that is precisely my argument. For starting five games, the 35-year-old Daniel will top $41 million in career earnings this season. He gets to play dress-up on the NFL sidelines, posing as an NFL player. It’s essentially every NFL fan’s dream.
Daniel is a part of the team, earning the big bucks, without all the injury risk, even winning a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints in 2009-10. He may actually have the best job in the world.
If you’re keeping score at home, Daniel has earned $8.26 million per start. That is $232,034 for each of his 178 completed career passes. And people want to talk about if Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was overpaid.
So can Chase Daniel keep the Chargers afloat? A betting man, which I am, would say it won’t even come to that. Daniel has some sort of superpower that keeps him from ever seeing the field. Herbert has yet to miss a game in his two year career that wasn’t due to former head coach Anthony Lynn’s questionable decision making.
So you can safely bet on the Chargers not Charger-ing this season. Anyone who has watched this team over the years, knows that is the best possible description to give.
If something crazy happens and Daniel ends up in the game? Oh boy are we in for a treat then. Don’t bother betting a dollar on that happening though. Instead bet that money on Daniel remaining the league’s most successful backup quarterback.