Chase Daniel is joining the Worldwide Leader.
Fresh off a year at FS1 as a daily panelist on The Facility and co-host of The Athletic’s Scoop City podcast, Daniel is heading to ESPN, where he will call college football games and provide analysis for both the pro and college game on the network’s studio shows.
Front Office Sports first reported that Daniel would join ESPN’s roster of college football game analysts starting Week 1 for Duquesne-Pittsburgh alongside veteran announcer Clay Matvick.
A source confirmed the move to Awful Announcing but added that Daniel’s ESPN role will be larger than just calling college football games. Though he’ll call one college contest per week, Daniel will be seen more across ESPN’s studio coverage analyzing the NFL, the source said.
The move to ESPN signifies a major step forward for the journeyman quarterback, who has long been seen as a potential broadcasting star. Daniel’s media career began while he was still in the NFL, when he started off doing Facebook Live streams alongside former teammates. He leveraged that into multiple opportunities at The Athletic and NFL Network before joining The Facility last year.
Now, Daniel ends up with a fresh start at ESPN. While FOS reports that ESPN producers believe Daniel can become a “high-level analyst” in time, starting on smaller games should be helpful for him as a rookie game analyst. With College Football Playoff rights for the next seven years and a full SEC football package, the college side is the place to be for a young ESPN football broadcaster like Daniel. His career begins Week 1 in ACC country. Then, Daniel will head to Georgia for the Bulldogs’ tilt against Austin Peay in Week 2, before heading to Kentucky as they take on Eastern Michigan in Week 3.
Coming off a mega-deal with the NFL, football will continue to be central to ESPN’s future. The network continues to make big hires for its football analyst roster, bringing Peter Schrager, Ben Solak and Jordan Reid on over the past handful of years to bolster an already loaded staff.
It is an ideal home for Daniel, who brings versatility on podcasts and television and will now get opportunities calling games starting next month.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.