The Bengals head coach won’t talk about benching Ryan Finley for Andy Dalton yet.
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor isn’t ready to declare Ryan Finley benched for Andy Dalton coming out of Sunday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Taylor’s Bengals are 0-11 for the first time in team history and the rookie Finley just put up another putrid performance, completing 12 of his 26 passes for 192 yards while fumbling twice, losing one late at a key moment in the game.
Finley has started three games now after the surprise benching of Dalton. His second start in the loss to Oakland last week saw him complete 13 of 31 attempts for 115 yards with a pick.
In his postgame presser after Sunday’s loss, Taylor made it clear he won’t talk about a change yet, per Laurel Pfahler of WCPO:
Taylor said if rookies had just three games to be evaluated there wouldn’t be a lot of players left in the league.
This falls in line with what Taylor had said earlier in the week coming out of the Raiders loss. But Finley’s fumbling issues, inaccuracy and the lack of strength behind passes look like problems another five games might not resolve.
If the Bengals don’t want to revert back to Dalton for a handful of obvious reasons, they could also throw rookie Jake Dolegala out there for an evaluation period too.
But for now, Taylor isn’t announcing any sort of change.
Touchdown Wire ranks the 32 NFL teams in terms of stability and potential at the game’s most important position over the next 3-4 seasons.
Tom Brady might be the best quarterback ever, but he’s not the best in the NFL right now. He certainly won’t be the best in 2022.
He’s human, after all, and at age 42, regression is inevitable even for someone with six Super Bowl rings. That puts the New England Patriots in an uncertain situation at quarterback two or three years down the road. The New Orleans Saints, with 40-year-old Drew Brees under center, find themselves in a similar scenario.
Other teams, such as the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers, likely will face difficult personnel decisions at the quarterback position much sooner than that. Only a handful of teams, notably the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks, appear secure in their quarterback situation for years to come.
All this got us thinking about the quarterback situations of the future — and where each of the NFL’s 32 teams ranks in terms of preparedness at the game’s most crucial position.
By quarterback situations, we mean the full overview of each team’s quarterbacks group, including backups and a potential succession plan, if necessary. For this exercise, we will define the future as three to four years down the road.
To help form these opinions, we consulted with a blue-ribbon panel of one former head coach, two former general managers and one current general manager. They were asked for their thoughts on each team’s quarterback situation. They provided insight to inform our rankings.
With that in mind, we present Touchdown Wire’s future quarterback rankings for every NFL team, from worst to first:
32. Miami Dolphins
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Earlier this season, many observers accused the Dolphins of tanking to earn the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and presumably select a quarterback. Since then, Miami (2-8) has been eclipsed by the ineptitude of Cincinnati (0-10) and Washington (1-9), so the Dolphins might not get the first QB off the board. Currently, the Dolphins have Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen on their roster. Rosen has failed in his playing time. There’s no way he’ll be back next year. The Dolphins have the option to hang onto Fitzpatrick, 36, who’s currently under contract next season at $5.5 million. It makes sense to keep Fitzpatrick around for one more year to help groom a young quarterback. That could be LSU’s Joe Burrow, Alabama’s Tua Tagavailoa (although his recent hip injury now complicates his draft status), Oregon’s Justin Herbert or Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts. Two members of my panel said they like Burrow better than Tagovailoa. Either way, it’s going to take some time to develop a young quarterback.
31. Chicago Bears
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For the moment, Mitchell Trubisky is Chicago’s starting quarterback. But it doesn’t appear that he will be in that role next year — although he remains under contract and the team holds a fifth-year option on the No. 2 overall pick from 2017. Given his level of play this season, it’s highly unlikely he will receive the option year, and he might not even see 2020 with the Bears — although the cap hit for cutting him would be slightly more than $9 million. The Bears are 4-6 after going 12-4 last year. There’s one main reason for the decline. That’s Trubisky. My panelists say he’s holding the offense back and could end up keeping a good team out of the playoffs. All four panelists agree Trubisky should be nothing more than a backup. Current backup Chase Daniel’s contract expires after this season. So there’s no telling who will be Chicago’s quarterback next year. Maybe the Bears will draft a quarterback. But with a talented roster already in place, the Bears should be first in line to sign New Orleans backup Teddy Bridgewater as a free agent.
30. Cincinnati Bengals
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Veteran Andy Dalton has been benched, and the Bengals are giving rookie fourth-rounder Ryan Finley a shot. There should be no turning back to Dalton, even though he remains under contract for 2020 with a $17.5 million scheduled salary. The Bengals can cut Dalton after the season without any salary cap ramifications. It’s too early to judge Finley. Cincinnati is going to end up with an early draft pick and could have a shot at Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert or Jalen Hurts. The Bengals will be starting over. But, given their current state, that’s not a bad thing. “Dalton had more than enough time and couldn’t win consistently,” one panelist said. “I have no idea what they have in Finley. But they have to draft a quarterback if they’re sitting there at No. 1 or 2.”
29. Washington Redskins
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The current situation is a mess. Veterans Colt McCoy and Case Keenum, who clearly aren’t the answer, each is in the last year of their contract. The Redskins have little choice but to play rookie Dwayne Haskins, who has five interceptions and two touchdown passes, the rest of this season. Call it an audition for Haskins. But this situation is complicated because the Redskins currently have interim coach Bill Callahan, who took over when Jay Gruden was fired. There will be a new coach next year, and he might not like Haskins. With an early draft pick likely, the new coach might want his own guy. Give up on Haskins after only one season? Arizona did it with 2018 first-round pick Josh Rosen after drafting Kyler Murray. All four of our panelists said Haskins was overrated when he was drafted.
Week 10 of the NFL regular season not only shook football fans, but the ‘Tank for Tua’ rankings as well. The Dolphins are on a win streak, the Bengals are still winless, the Patriots haven’t won a game in November and the 49ers lost their first game …
Week 10 of the NFL regular season not only shook football fans, but the ‘Tank for Tua’ rankings as well.
The Dolphins are on a win streak, the Bengals are still winless, the Patriots haven’t won a game in November and the 49ers lost their first game of the season.
All of the aforementioned events have changed the overall landscape of the NFL, let’s dive in and see how this crazy week affected the worst of the worst and if their chances of landing Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa have been hindered.
3. New York Jets
Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Jets in Week 10 were able to capture yet another win, this time over their in-state rival, the New York Football Giants.
They are tied for last place in the AFC East, tied with the Miami Dolphins at 2-7, and it seems as if the win column may stay stuck at two for the remainder of the regular season.
The NFL Power Rankings currently has them listed at No. 29, one of the worst teams in the league.
With an inconsistent quarterback, such as Sam Darnold, that ranking may fluctuate higher or lower.
In the Jets’ win over the Giants, Darnold had an impressive outing. He amassed 230 yards, one passing touchdown and a lone rushing touchdown.
While a win must feel nice for the team, it’s still clear a winning culture has not been spread throughout the locker room.
With a team full of talent, there’s only one position on the field to turn to and potentially point the finger. The quarterback.
Whether Darnold is the future of the franchise is still to be determined, but with a lot of elite collegiate talent at the quarterback position in this draft class, it would be hard to believe that the Jets’ front office hasn’t thought about the possibility of bringing in a fresh, and even younger, face, such as Tagovailoa.
Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert, a former Notre Dame Fighting Irish, hauled in his second touchdown of the season on Sunday.
Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish tight end Tyler Eifert recorded his second touchdown of the season on Sunday – and his first since Week 2 – in Cincinnati’s 49-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
It was the first career touchdown pass for Bengals rookie quarterback Ryan Finley, a fourth round pick out of North Carolina State in 2019.
It’s been an ugly season for the Bengals, who replaced veteran Andy Dalton with Finley officially on Sunday.
Finley was able to connect on a six-yard touchdown pass with Eifert, a long-time reliable target for Dalton, giving Finley the first of what Cincinnati hopes will be many touchdowns for the young gunslinger.
The Bengals are barreling toward an early pick in 2020 however, making Finley’s time as a starter potentially short-lived.
Regardless, expect Eifert – who had 140 receptions and 11 touchdowns while at Notre Dame – to be a go-to target for Finley while he gets his NFL legs under him.
How bad are things for the winless Cincinnati Bengals?
Former starting quarterback Andy Dalton worked with the scout team last week in an effort to help the defense prep for Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
It didn’t exactly work.
“He’s been a pro. He’s been great. It’s a difficult personal situation for him,” offensive coordinator Brian Callahan said, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “It’s not how he saw this going. But neither did we. But it’s kind of where we’re at and he’s embraced the role and he’s done everything we’ve asked. He’s a true professional in that regard and we all appreciate that from him. I know Ryan appreciates that from him…”
The sentiment Dalton has been a huge help for rookie starter Ryan Finley is great — anyone who has tracked Dalton’s career knew he would step in and handle it with professionalism.
But the results on the field didn’t look good. The Bengals got dropped in 49-13 fashion while that defense Dalton helped prep surrendred 223 yards and three touchdowns to Jackson through the air, as well as 65 yards and a score (9.3 average) on the ground.
Dalton was known for running a good read offense in college and running when asked. But nobody is emulating Jackson.
Even despite Dalton’s best efforts as he likely suits up for his final games as a member of the team, this defense simply doesn’t seem to be moving the needle in the right direction. Some opponents like Jackson will merely highlight it more than others.
