Chase Daniel was a prototypical spread quarterback during his college days at Mizzou, expertly operating a fast-paced offense that racked up over 1,100 points in 2007 and 2008. At 6 feet tall, he was undersized for the NFL, but not for a college scheme that split receivers and tight ends all over the field and operated exclusively out of the shotgun.
Daniel’s savviness and talent fit the offense perfectly, and he earned a trip to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist as a result. But the prevailing thought when Daniel finished his college career in 2008 was that the kind of offense he — and plenty others — ran in college wasn’t remotely transferrable to the NFL.