Barring something dramatic, the Andy Dalton era for the Cincinnati Bengals is over.
The new coaching staff has named Ryan Finley, a rookie they traded up to get in the fourth round, as starter. Dalton had his agent looking for trades after he learned the news and we’ve outlined some possible trade partners.
But what about just cutting Dalton outright?
The Bengals signed Dalton to a six-year deal worth $96 million which included $17 million in guarantees and an AAS of $16 million. As the years went on and the market leaped into astronomical prices, Dalton’s deal continued to look like a bargain.
And to the credit of the front office in Cincinnati, the guarantees in Dalton’s deal were over rather early.
As such, the Bengals would shake loose a big chunk of 2020 cap commitments if they cut Dalton before June first:
The Bengals will obviously look to trade Dalton before outright releasing him. But the fact it seems so obvious could mean the front office never gets a return it likes.
The potential free-agent class this year features not only some of those potential cut names above, but potentially Dak Prescott, Teddy Bridgewater, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, to name a few. If teams want a stopgap, they might just gobble up one of the free agents or a rookie as opposed to giving up draft capital in a trade for Dalton.
If it goes that route and the Bengals simply up and cut Dalton, there is money to be made. Whether it gets shifted over to A.J. Green’s extension or used at all is an entirely different conversation, but it doesn’t hurt to know the base figure.
