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It’s easy to take the pessimistic stance and say “go figure” on the topic of the Cincinnati Bengals getting nothing for Andy Dalton’s long-anticipated departure.
But it wouldn’t be wholly unfair. For all the high talk and praise Bengals personnel (rightfully) throw at Dalton and for all of his franchise records and on-field accomplishments, it’s odd to think it all ended with the team getting nothing at all en route to simply cutting him.
Pessimistic or not, the Bengals failing to trade Dalton for literally anything has shades of AJ McCarron to it and is pretty much right in line with the franchise’s reputation when it comes to trades.
Remember the McCarron ordeal? They had reportedly turned down a second-round pick. Later, a potential big trade haul with Cleveland fell through because of “late paperwork” and all the team got for a backup’s departure — as opposed to premium picks — was a sixth-round compensatory selection.
Dalton was disgruntled with his benching at the trade deadline but a move didn’t happen. They then failed to move him before the draft despite interest from a team like the Chicago Bears.
After getting cut, Dalton ended up signing a deal with the Cowboys as a backup and will end up playing the Bengals in 2020.
And yet.
For all of Cincinnati’s faults when it comes to trading and almost inexplicably not getting anything in return for the Dalton era ending…this isn’t all on them.
This was, after all, a historic offseason for quarterbacks. Free agency featured Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston and Philip Rivers, to merely name the Tier 1 guys. Guys like Nick Foles got traded. The draft featured three quarterbacks in the top six, four in the first round and 13 drafted overall.
In one sense, the Bengals oddly waited while trying to “do right by Dalton” in the monetary sense. He was due to make more than $17 million in 2020 — he’ll get $3 million from Dallas with a maximum of roughly $7 million.
But in another, doing right by Dalton meant cutting him loose or moving him well before all the starting chances dried up.
Admittedly, Dallas is a nice spot for Dalton. He’s back in his home state. He’s right in position to take over should something between the Cowboys and Dak Prescott fall apart.
And according to ESPN’s Todd Archer, Dalton “wanted to come to the Cowboys in part because of the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic. He lives in Dallas, so it makes sense even if he had a better opportunity elsewhere.”
But from a Bengals perspective, Dalton landing in Dallas could’ve happened at any point via just cutting him loose. Crossing the proverbial fingers and just hoping something opened up that offered better trade compensation at a better date is bad practice. Dalton should probably be in the mix in Chicago right now.
Maybe it’s all moot. The difference between maximum trade compensation and just cutting Dalton for nothing was probably small if the Bengals weren’t willing to eat some of his contract while trading him. But if they do take a financial hit while trading him in exchange for better compensation via draft assets, maybe this plays out differently.
In other words, it can be both the Bengals remaining bad at this trading thing and just a bad time for Dalton to shake free and be available. But the latter shouldn’t excuse the former — the team did well to shed other issues this offseason (free agency, connecting with fans) and should’ve probably made similar strides here.
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