Owen Daniels is an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 tight end

Tight end

The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...

 and emergency backup quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 for the Houston Texans

Houston Texans

The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is currently a member of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. He was named as the tight end on the 2006 NFL All-Rookie Team as selected by Pro Football Weekly

Pro Football Weekly

Pro Football Weekly is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, that covers the National Football League...

and the Pro Football Writers of America

Pro Football Writers Association

Technically known as the Pro Football Writers of America, this organization purports to be "The official voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve the public." Goals of the organization include improving access to practices and locker rooms,...

.

High school years

Daniels attended Naperville Central High School

Naperville Central High School

Naperville Central High School is a public four-year comprehensive school ranked in the top 3% of high schools nationally by US News and World Report, covering grades nine through twelve in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago in the United States...

 in Naperville, Illinois. As starting quarterback, Daniels led Naperville Central to win an undefeated IHSA Class 6A State Championship in 1999.

College career

Daniels graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 with a B.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and where he played football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 under coach Barry Alvarez

Barry Alvarez

Barry Alvarez is a former American football player and coach and currently the Director of Athletics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He served as the head football coach at Wisconsin for 16 seasons from 1990 to 2005, compiling a career college football record of 118–73–4...

. At Wisconsin, he red-shirted his freshman year at the QB position. Early in his active career at UW, Daniels was a back-up quarterback and played special teams, flanker, split end, and wingback. He eventually assumed the starting job at tight end for most of his final two seasons with the Badgers. During his career at Wisconsin, Daniels played in 43 games with 62 receptions for 852 yards (13.7 avg.) He was drafted with the 98th pick (overall) and as the first pick of the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft

2006 NFL Draft

The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offered by ESPNU and, for the first time, by...

. He earned the nickname "The Weatherman" as he majored in meteorology and appeared on the Madison area news delivering the local forecast. As a Professional, the moniker, "O.D." seems to have stuck amongst Texans fans, Houston media, and users of NFL-related message boards.

NFL

Daniels finished his rookie (2006) season with 34 receptions for 352 yards with 5 touchdowns.

Owen Daniels completed the 2007 NFL season starting all 16 games with 63 receptions for 768 yards and 3 touchdowns.

On November 2, 2008 Daniels had his "best game of his career", according to the Houston Chronicle

Houston Chronicle

The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...

, against the Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...

 with 11 receptions for 133 yards. On December 7, 2008 he and quarterback Matt Schaub

Matt Schaub

Matthew Rutledge Schaub is the starting quarterback for the Houston Texans. He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia.-College career:...

 combined for a 27-yard completion during a game winning drive to defeat the Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

. He completed the 2008 season with 70 receptions for 862 yards with a trip to the 2009 Pro Bowl. He and teammate Andre Johnson

Andre Johnson

Andre Lamont Johnson is an American football wide receiver currently playing for the Houston Texans of the National Football League. Through the 2010–11 NFL season, Johnson currently ranks first all-time in NFL history in receiving yards per game for a career...

 were the most prolific tight end-wide receiver combination in the NFL with 185 catches for 2,437 yards.

On November 1, 2009 in a game against the Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

, Daniels injured his knee (torn ACL) and was placed on injured reserve, ending his season.