By Jordan Long
The Cincinnati Bengals finished the 2018 season 6-10. They fired Head Coach Marvin Lewis on December 31st after 16 years at the helm. Their new Head Coach will be L.A. Rams’ Quarterbacks Coach Zac Taylor once the Super Bowl is over. Once that is completed, they will prepare for the NFL Draft which takes place on April 25 to April 27. There was speculation Cincinnati might upgrade the quarterback position either in the draft or in free agency. That won’t happen since they are happy with Andy Dalton.
The Bengals’ problems this year weren’t on Dalton. He was able to find the open receivers and help Cincinnati march down the field. Dalton started 11 games and passed for 2,566 yards and 21 touchdowns. He was careful with the ball and didn’t throw it into double coverage with an impressively low 11 interceptions. Cincinnati was 4-6 with him as the starter.
Dalton missed 5 games this past season because of a thumb injury. He suffered torn ligaments in his thumb during the Bengals’ 35-20 loss in week 12 to the Cleveland Browns. Cincinnati went 2-4 the rest of the way, missing the postseason for the 3rd straight year.
The Bengals may look to draft a quarterback for the future. They have the 11th overall pick in the 1st round and might select a quarterback then. Even if they do, Andy Dalton is still going to be the starter.
According to NFL.com, Director Of Player Personnel Duke Tobin said, “We’re very comfortable with Andy. We think he’s got a number of years left. We feel like we can win with him. But with any position group, we don’t just throw away the whole draft board at a group just because we’re satisfied with who we have. We’ll evaluate them and look at them and see if there’s an opportunity to add a guy at every position.”
This is the right move. Dalton has been productive for the Bengals in his 8 years in the NFL. He passed for 28,100 yards and 188 touchdowns. He rarely turns it over with 104 interceptions. Cincinnati’s record with Dalton as the starter is 67-50-2. He helped Cincinnati reach the playoff 5 times but they haven’t gone further than the Wild Card Round.
Dalton has 2 years left on his current deal. Cincinnati knows how valuable he is to their team. They have to re-sign him before the 2021 offseason. They can’t afford to let him hit free agency. If they do, plenty of teams will want him because he is a productive veteran quarterback.
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