The Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears now have an interesting link thanks to Bill Lazor.
Not that things weren’t interesting before. The Bengals are clearly ready to move on from Andy Dalton ahead of likely taking Joe Burrow at No. 1 in the 2020 NFL draft. Those Bears are a potential trade partner or free-agent destination for Dalton after a regression under Mitch Trubisky this year, supervised by Matt Nagy.
Earlier this week, the Bears made a move to hire Bill Lazor as offensive coordinator. And interestingly enough, Lazor’s offense during the same role with the Bengals looked very good until tight end Tyler Eifert got hurt.
That’s simplifying a bit, but what’s to stop Lazor from getting to the Windy City and advocating for Dalton?
Not much. On Dalton’s end, he got benched for rookie Ryan Finley and made it clear he had sought out a trade before the deadline. He became the starter again later in the season and even won two games, but it’s clear the relationship has run its course. Not only is Burrow likely inbound, but the Bengals would also like to save the cap space on Dalton ($17 million) and he still wants to be a starter in the league.
Much remains to be seen when it comes to the Bears and whether Nagy is willing or has permission to put the Trubisky experiment on the shelf. But if all involved decide it’s time for a veteran starter to salvage an otherwise talented roster and get the team back to the playoffs, Dalton figures to be available.
All the Lazor connection does is make this hypothetical a little more interesting, if not possible.
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