The idea Andy Dalton could end up a member of the New England Patriots in the wake of Tom Brady’s possible departure — shockingly — isn’t so uncommon.
Bart Scott said Dalton would make a perfect Brady replacement. Peter King floated the idea too.
And now former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum has thrown his weight behind the idea during an appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up” with an added twist — why not bring along A.J. Green too? Here’s his idea (h/t Dave Clark, Cincinnati Enquirer):
“I go sign Andy Dalton. I worked with Coach Belichick twice, both in Cleveland and at the Jets. You have to process information. Andy Dalton has completed 62 percent of his passes in his career. And I’ll tell you something else that’s interesting: A.J. Green is a free agent. So if you’re the New England Patriots, you could potentially go get Andy Dalton – who’s a solid NFL starting quarterback – and you could go sign A.J. Green. And now you try and fix that big gap that you have at wide receiver.”
It’s hard to know what the end of the standoff between the Patriots and Brady will produce. If he does leave, one would think Dalton would at least come to the mind of Bill Belichick sheerly based off the strong Patriots-Bengals trading relationship in the past.
Either way, it’s clear Dalton’s days with the Bengals are numbered. He wasn’t happy about the benching and chatted with his reps about a trade. Bengals brass made it sound like they’ll do right by Dalton on his way out the door.
As for Green, he’s likely headed for a tag if the two sides can’t agree to an extension, so even if Belichick lands Dalton for some reason, he’ll have to look elsewhere for a star wideout.
