The Cincinnati Bengals seem to be working down a consensus list when it comes to roster departures, most recently showing Dre Kirkpatrick the door.
And Andy Dalton is the next name on the list.
The Kirkpatrick move freed up roughly $8 million in cap but it’s small stuff compared to a Dalton transaction, as moving the most recent franchise quarterback would free up north of $17 million.
But the question is simple: When?
Kirkpatrick’s release came at a seemingly random time. The team had added Vonn Bell’s contract to the secondary and likely didn’t get anything notable in the way of trade offers.
But the Dalton situation is more unclear. The current cap space outlook doesn’t look great and not all of the big free-agency signings have gone official. One would think the Bengals need to get Dalton’s contract off the books sooner, not later.
But later could provide more in the way of future assets. Right now teams aren’t biting on a Dalton trade because they know the Bengals front office will just end up cutting him. But if they put out word enough that they’re comfortable with Dalton’s pricepoint mentoring Joe Burrow next year, maybe they encourage a trade.
Maybe this means the Bengals end up eating the cap hit until another team gets desperate. That could mean a team missing out on drafting a quarterback it wants or a team suffering an unfortunate injury setback close to when the season starts.
Either way, the idea the Bengals wanted to do right by Dalton needed to marry with proper compensation. A loaded quarterback market didn’t help things.
When the seemingly inevitable move happens is hard to pin down — but Dalton is the next big and perhaps final departure of a now-bygone Bengals era.
