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Sielski: Why is Chase Daniel here?

Why is Chase Daniel here? In some ways, the question is easy to answer. He is here because of his close relationship with Doug Pederson, who is his head coach with the Eagles and was his offensive coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs. He is here becaus

Why is Chase Daniel here? In some ways, the question is easy to answer. He is here because of his close relationship with Doug Pederson, who is his head coach with the Eagles and was his offensive coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs. He is here because the Eagles signed him to a three-year contract that gave Daniel $12 million in guaranteed money and that could be worth up to $21 million - a handsome paycheck for a quarterback who has started two games in seven NFL seasons. And he is here because of his intimate knowledge of Pederson's offense. Someone referred to Daniel as a "guru" Tuesday in the locker room of the NovaCare Center, after the Eagles' late-morning organized team activity, and Daniel's eyes lit up.

"I like the word guru," he said. "I'm going to start calling myself that. I think anytime you're in an offense for three years and you helped build it and helped the schemes and know the ins and outs of every single call, I think you're a master. I would call myself a master of the offense because I've been in it so long.

"Anyone who's been in an NFL offense that long . . . you know it backwards and forwards. That's a quarterback's job: to master an offense. You can master an offense after one year. I feel very comfortable in this offense."

OK, but in the NFL, gurus aren't often active quarterbacks. Bill Walsh was a guru. Mike Martz was a guru. Bruce Arians is a guru. Coaches are gurus, and if Pederson had wanted one, he could have hired one to his coaching staff - a staff that already includes him, offensive coordinator Frank Reich, and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo, all of whom the Eagles already believe to be gurus. Daniel is a quarterback. He counts against the salary cap. He takes up finite financial resources that the Eagles could have allocated elsewhere. And while a quarterback may be equipped to help one or more of his teammates learn an offense - and much of the Eagles' justification for Daniel's presence is that he will help Sam Bradford and Carson Wentz in that regard - his primary responsibility is to play in the offense, not to be a rookie head coach's blue blanket.

So, again, why is Chase Daniel here? To be a model of unselfishness? "I can't speak for anyone else but myself," he said, "but you're doing it for the betterment of the team." Except no one seems to have a clear idea of what's best for the Eagles, including the Eagles themselves. The arc of Daniel's playing career has been similar to Pederson's, and if the Eagles had approached their offseason in the manner they have claimed to - using 1999 as their template - Daniel would have had an obvious path to becoming an opening-day NFL starter for the first time. If they had started fresh at the position, knowing that they would do whatever it took to get themselves a potential franchise quarterback in this year's draft, Daniel would have been a fine bridge to Wentz, just as Pederson was to Donovan McNabb.

They didn't do that. They re-signed Bradford, arguing that he would give them the best chance to win games and perhaps make the playoffs. Then they signed Daniel. Then they traded up to draft Wentz. They thought they'd found a third way - not rebuilding around a new quarterback, not playing to win right now, but having their cake and licking the frosting from their lips. Pederson has insisted there is a clear pecking order here: Bradford is the No. 1. Daniel is the No. 2. Wentz is the No. 3. But if Bradford stays healthy and plays as well as possible, there's no need for Daniel; the transition from Bradford to Wentz would happen next summer, maybe thanks to a trade, assuming Bradford has increased his value. And suppose Bradford survives the Eagles' opener against the Cleveland Browns, then gets injured or plays poorly enough to be benched. Is Pederson really going to replace him with Daniel and not with Wentz? Does he understand that the people who fill Lincoln Financial Field each Sunday might be inclined to set the stadium on fire if he did that?

Once more, then: Why is Chase Daniel here? To teach Wentz how to be a pro? "I'm very impressed with how smart he is," Daniel said. "He's got a good work ethic. We work out together almost every day. He's sort of taken a whole bunch of veteran leadership from me, so that's good. Sometimes these rookies can come in and think they know everything, and you've got to kind of put them in their place. But that has not been the case with Carson. He's been a good rookie. He's got a strong arm. Big son of a gun. You can see why they wanted to take him at No. 2."

So if Wentz is that talented and diligent and intelligent . . . and if the Eagles already have a starting quarterback in Bradford . . . and if the Eagles' coaching staff is already stocked with quarterback gurus and masters of offense . . . can anyone provide a satisfying answer to the question that started this whole thing? In some ways, it's obvious why Chase Daniel is here. In some other ways, some very important ways, it doesn't make any sense at all.

msielski@phillynews.com

@MikeSielski