CARDS: Sage Artistry 2022, Panini Contenders 2022
ACQUIRED: Ebay, 2025

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

• Chase Garbers played QB at Cal from 2018-’21.
• In his Senior season, Chase completed 223 of 348 attempts for 2,531 yards, and 16 TDs, while rushing for 456 yards and 4 TDs on 104 carries.
• All these numbers would represent career highs with the Golden Bears for him, as 2021 would be the first year he’d start all 11 contests.
• Signed as an UDFA by the Las Vegas Raiders after the 2022 NFL Draft.
• Spent 2022 and 2023 on and off the Raiders active and practice squad.
• Released after training camp in 2023.
• Signed with the UFL San Antonio Brahmas in January of 2024.
• Beat out Quinten Dormady in camp to win the starting nod for SA.
• Had his best game in week 2 against the Memphis Showboats, throwing for 287 yards and 3 TDs, completing 29 of 40 throws.
• Injured during Week 3 and spent the next 5 weeks on IR.
• Returned in Week 9 as the Brahmas stunned the previously unbeaten Birmingham Stallions 18-9.
• Guided the team to a playoff win in St. Louis, completing 15 of 21 passes for 197 yards and 2 TDs.
• Lost to the Birmingham Stallions in the UFL Championship Game.
• In the offseason, the Brahmas decided to go in another direction at QB, releasing Garbers in early 2025.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS:

GARBERS	VS	DORMADY
140/96	ATT/ CPD	170/93
68.6	PCT	59.5
767	YDS	1,206
5.5	YPA	7.0
4.3	TD%	3.5
1.4	INT%	3.5
41	LG	52t
5	SACK	12
90.4	RAT	77.9

The Brahmas had two QBs with firmly different strengths and weaknesses. Due to Chase Garbers wrist injury during Week 3, we got to see them both extensively throughout the season.

Chase’s biggest assets were that he made pretty good pre-snap reads and rarely turned the ball over.  A lot of chatter was made about his ability to scramble from the pocket and make plays. He rarely did that this season, but when he did buy time when in the pocket… he really displayed a nice touch throwing the short pass on the move. Garbers averaged a puny 5 yards per completion and teams recognized this early on. They’d crowd the LOS as he failed consistently to push the ball further down the field, taking the easy checkdown or a screen to an RB. His 41 yard long was a dink 10 yards to Speedy Stevenson against Memphis who galloped the rest of the way. This would be his modus operandi as the season wore on. Get it to his playmakers on a quick pass and then let the receiver do the rest.

Dormady on the other hand was completely the opposite. He’s a gunslinger, and pushes the ball down the field for the big play… or the turnover. Explosive plays are where Dormady really beats Garbers hands down. Quinten is also fearless about utilizing his targets over the middle 10-15 yards down field. He holds onto the ball a bit longer and seems mostly comfortable in the pocket- which brings along its own set of disadvantages. His biggest drawbacks arose from pre-snap reads. – This was most evident in the Houston game when he went ice cold and had to be pulled due to turnovers and ineffectiveness. 

NOTES:

So yeah let’s talk about that Championship Game…

I don’t know what happened there, but it was a bad look for the league. On 3rd and short early on, Garbers looked to be running for a first down, and instead heard footsteps, slid obviously and intentionally short of the first down. Later he did something very similar again, all the while checking down, and throwing screens. Chase then would go to the sidelines and as the camera focused on him, he just didn’t seem focused on the game. It got so bad that Anthony McFarland got angry at him, and had to be separated from Garbers. 

It was rumored that Garbers had gotten ‘the call’ that he’d be signed after the Championship game concluded. Whether or not it was true, he was not signed after the game. He finished with 116 yards on 18 of 26 throws and a paltry 4.5 YPA as the team lost 25-0.

In August of 2024, at the team offseason appearance at Seaworld, celebrating the title and with special appearances by Caeveon Patton, GM Marc Lillibridge and Wade, I came armed with questions. (Personally I was in the camp that Garbers ‘mailed in’ the 2024 Championship game appearance.) Marc sensed this and defended Garbers by confirming that not only Garbers and Dormady had different playstyles, but that they also handled mistakes differently with Garbers being more… ‘California Low Key’. So Marc could certainly see how Garbers had this perception of mailing it in. He then told me to stay tuned as they had some big plans at the quarterback position.

In October, Dormady would be traded to Memphis for Jordan Ferguson and the team would announce the signing of former Viking and Texas A&M alum Kellen Mond at QB- essentially signaling the end of the Garbers epoch.

Originally I had ordered a Sage Next Level autographed card of Garbers from COMC but it got lost in the mail, and after waiting a month, I asked for my money back. I settled for this Artistry card since the remaining Next Level autographs were out of my price range. I used to really like Sage Artistry when it was a subset in its Draft sets, but this set now feels like a total copout. It’s just a Photoshop filter on top of a photo.