Coming out of OTAs and minicamps, it figured to be fourth-round pick Ryan Finley making most of the headlines for the Cincinnati Bengals at quarterback.
Jake Dolegala had other plans.
Dolegala was impressive when actually given a chance near the end, slinging it around and executing the offense well. Finley, on the other hand, struggled rather notably.
The end result? Dolegala picking up plenty of praise from teammates, including Joe Mixon and Josh Malone, per Bengals.com’s Dan Hoard:
“He’s got a good arm,” said Malone. “He was out there throwing the ball with confidence and putting the ball where he wanted to put it. He gave us a chance to make plays and he had a real good – I wouldn’t even say good – he had a great day.”
“That boy looked good,” said Joe Mixon. “I like him. He’s nice.”
And Dolegala couldn’t help but notice: “A bunch of the older guys came up to me and said, ‘You were slinging it today.’ I appreciate that they’re looking out for me but like I said, it was just fun out there and we’ll see what happens.”
Dolegala made it clear in interviews he understands he has a long way to go — and he does. The Bengals traded up for Finely so they aren’t likely to throw in the towel there regardless of early iffy returns.
But Dolegala sits in an interesting position. Considering he and Finley were the only passers the Bengals brought to Paul Brown Stadium on official visits, his continued strong play could force the team into keeping three quarterbacks.
