For most teams, either they have a franchise QB or they’re searching for one. Then there’s the Cincinnati Bengals. They’re in, to steal a term, QB purgatory. Stuck with Andy Dalton. And they seem quite comfortable with that.
Speaking at the podium before the NFL Combine, the Bengals reaffirmed their misguided faith in Dalton. That’s from Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin.
“We think the sky’s the limit for Andy in our opinion,” Tobin said today. “We did not look at starting AJ over Andy.”
Tobin was responding to a question of if the Bengals considered starting or keeping A.J. McCarron over Dalton. McCarron is now set to be an unrestricted free agent after winning a grievance hearing last week.
Tobin did mention Dalton and the Bengals need to be more effective with their downfield passing game. It’s hard to think they’ll accomplish that with the current roster they have. The team is expected to let TE Tyler Eifert, plagued by injury, to hit free agency, and John Ross, the 10th overall pick last year, wound up nearly playing cornerback.
Last year, Dalton completed under 60% of his passes, averaged just 6.7 yards per attempt, and was sacked 39 times behind an objectively rancid offensive line. The offense ranked 26th in scoring and 27th in passing yards per game.
Though they seem to have figured out the RB situation, wisely anointing Joe Mixon as the workhorse, it’s an offense that’s still very much in progress. And with Dalton under center, unlikely to ever make a serious playoff run.
