It’s very odd to think that one of the biggest offseason quarterback dominoes that is going to fall is an eventual trade of Andy Dalton. There is no reason for Dalton and his $17 million dollar cap hit to stay in Cincinnati if the Bengals are going to draft Joe Burrow — and they are definitely taking the Heisman winner and national champion with the first pick.
There will be suitors of Dalton. For all the jokes about Dalton as a quarterback, the Dalton line — copyrighted by Around the NFL podcast — and the Bengals playoff record with Dalton under center, he’s a decent quarterback. He can’t win you a Super Bowl unless you have a ton of talent surrounding him, but he’s better than a lot of other options. If Ryan Tannehill can have a comeback season where the Titans are thinking about keeping the former Dolphins quarterback instead of making a run at Tom Brady, then anything is possible for Dalton.
The Bengals probably aren’t going to outright release him either since his $17 million cap hit is actually a pretty good number. Some team will be interested. Let’s take a guess at which ones may make the call.
Chicago Bears
The Bears are the obvious choice. Dalton can come into camp and compete with Mitch Trubisky. The Bears have talent at wide receiver, running back and have an offensive line that will be better than what Dalton dealt with in Cincinnati — any offensive line would be better than what he dealt with in Cincinnati.
Yes, Dalton could stunt Trubisky’s growth, but do we really need to see much more out of Trubisky? Maybe Dalton comes to camp and pushes Trubisky to new heights. If he doesn’t, the Bears have a capable backup who can keep the team in the playoff race at a cheap cap number. They can start finding their franchise quarterback all over again and stay competitive.
New England Patriots
This is only if Tom Brady goes on to another team and Jarret Stidham isn’t ready for prime time. Before Patriots fans freak out, let’s look at Dalton’s stats as a quarterback.
He is 70-61-2 as the quarterback of the Bengals. That means his record is automatically better than it actually looks. He has 204 touchdowns and 118 interceptions. New England would like to see that drop, but that 2:1 ratio isn’t Jameis like and again, Dalton’s been on the Bengals his entire career. He’s been the playoffs four times.
The point is that Dalton isn’t a bad option if the Patriots need to find a new franchise quarterback because Brady leaves. Dalton isn’t that franchise quarterback, but he’s a good stopgap.
Miami Dolphins
Maybe Miami wants to keep Ryan Fitzpatrick for a paltry $8 million while they redshirt Tua Tagovailoa — or whichever quarterback they pick up in the draft — or the Dolphins could jettison Fitzpatrick for a cheap $4 million dollar dead cap to compete a little more with Andy Dalton. The Dolphins have a ton of cap space. It couldn’t hurt.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Remember what we said about Dalton being actually good when he has talent around him? Well, the Bucs have wide receiver talent in spades. All Dalton would have to do is throw the ball up to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and it’s an easy win.
Bruce Arians already dealt with a former Bengals quarterback in Arizona — Carson Palmer — and things worked out just fine. Dalton doesn’t have Palmer’s arm strength, but he has better ball security than Jameis Winston. If the Bucs don’t franchise Winston and he ends up somewhere else, trading for Dalton isn’t a bad second option.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Hear me out on this one. The Jaguars brought in Jay Gruden as their new offensive coordinator. Gruden was Dalton’s offensive coordinator in Cincinnati before Gruden left for the head coaching job in D.C.. The Jaguars could trade Nick Foles to Cincinnati for Dalton straight up.
That allows Dalton to either compete for the job in Jacksonville where Doug Marrone is trying to save his job or it allows the Jaguars to have a veteran quarterback familiar with Gruden’s system to mentor Gardner Minshew.
Foles goes to Cincinnati and backs up a top pick in the draft. It’s basically what he did in Philadelphia. Who says no?
Carolina Panthers
OK, time to follow the bouncing ball. The Panthers have to trade Cam Newton — maybe they send him to Chicago. That would put Carolina in a situation where they need a quarterback. They could then trade a late-round pick for Dalton. Dalton could be the bridge quarterback and the Panthers can either tank this season — and try and get Trevor Lawrence — or they could play out this season with Dalton and figure things out at quarterback at a later date.
