Austria: Former ELF QB Chad Jeffries signs with Vienna Knights

The Vienna Knights who were promoted to the Austrian Football League for the 2026 season, have announced the signing of one of the top quarterbacks in Europe, Chad Jeffries, for the 2026 season.

The 32 year old native of San Dimas, California spent the 2025 season with the Rhein Fire of the European League of Football where he finished as the 5th leading passer in the ELF completing 67% of his passes for 2,456 yards and 27 touchdowns against only four interceptions. He led the team to an8-4 record and a berth in the Wild Card playoffs where they were eliminated by the Nordic Storm.

He had spent the previous two seasons with the Munich Ravens where he was one of the top passers in the ELF finishing second in 2023 having thrown for 3,535 yards and 30 touchdowns, and third in 2024 with 2,888 passing yards and 35 touchdowns. He led the Ravens to the playoffs in 2024 where they lost to the Paris Musketeers in the wild card round.

When he signed withe the Ravens, Jeffries had just come off a championship run with the Danube Dragons in the Austrian Football League. He quarterbacked the Dragons to the Austrian crown in an unbeaten season in his fourth year with the team.

While playing for the Dragons, the 6’2″, 220 pound Jeffries was one of the league’s most successful quarterbacks in the AFL with a record of 27-11 and an appearance in the semifinals every season, finally winning it in 2022. Over the four seasons he threw for a total of 10,271 yards and 105 touchdowns while rushing for 1,465 yards and 14 touchdowns. In the 2019 semifinals, Jeffries threw for 318 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-43 loss to the eventual champions, the Swarco Raiders.

He began his European football career in 2016 in the German Football League (GFL) when he helped the Marburg Mercenaries return to respectability throwing for 3,045 yards and 28 touchdowns while rushing for another 305 yards and three touchdowns in 11 games. In 2017, he was the second-leading passer in the GFL in terms of average passing yards per game with 276.8, helping the Mercenaries to an 8-6 record and a return to the GFL playoffs for the first time in three years.

Jeffries began his college career with the San Diego Aztecs in California and later moved to Azusa Pacific University (NCAA Div. II). At Azusa, Jeffries threw for 3,714 yards and 25 touchdowns in his three seasons there while rushing for 352 yards.