Saints move quickly to replace Chase Daniel by signing Tom Savage

In the fast and furious world of the start of NFL free agency, the Saints lost and gained a backup quarterback to Drew Brees all in the same day.

Hours after Chase Daniel agreed to a deal to back up Mitchell Trubisky with the Chicago Bears, New Orleans reached an agreement with former Houston Texans quarterback Tom Savage.

Savage’s agents confirmed the deal.

Entering his fifth year in the NFL out of the University of Pittsburgh, Savage has started nine games over the last two years for Houston with a 2-7 record in those games. In his career, he has passed for exactly 2,000 yards, completing 57.5 percent of his attempts with five touchdowns and seven interceptions.

In a perfect world, Savage would never see the field in New Orleans for a meaningful snap behind Brees, but having an experienced backup could be critical for the Saints, even though Taysom Hill figures to be more of the quarterback of the future in New Orleans than Savage.

Daniel agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal with Chicago, where former Saints staffer Ryan Pace is the general manager. The agreement includes $7 million in guaranteed money and it’s a voidable deal after the first year.