Sports
Andy Dalton ‘Absolutely’ Open to Bengals Return in 2020 After 1st Win of Season
Bryan Woolston/Getty ImagesAndy Dalton “absolutely” prefers staying with the Cincinnati Bengals through the 2020 season, he told Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.”I have no idea what’s going to happen,” Dalton said. “I’m just going to do all I can to win the last four games.”His comments come after throwing for 243 yards and a touchdown…
Bryan Woolston/Getty Images
Andy Dalton “absolutely” prefers staying with the Cincinnati Bengals through the 2020 season, he told Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio.
“I have no idea what's going to happen,” Dalton said. “I'm just going to do all I can to win the last four games.”
His comments come after throwing for 243 yards and a touchdown in a 22-6 win over the New York Jets on Sunday, Cincinnati's first victory of the year.
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It was also Dalton's first game back as the starter after the Bengals benched him for Ryan Finley. He had previously expressed his frustration with the team's decision to demote him with little time left before the Oct. 29 trade deadline.
“It happened three hours before the trade deadline,” he said, per ESPN's Ben Baby. “I wish they would have, at least if he was thinking about it, at least try to let me see if I could end up somewhere or at least see if there was interest in possibly getting traded.”
Dalton told Florio that sitting on the sideline has provided him with a “different perspective” regarding his future in Cincinnati.
The 32-year-old is signed through 2020, but that doesn't ensure he'll be back. The Bengals can save $17.7 million by cutting him, and their 1-11 record gives them a great shot at landing one of the top quarterbacks available in the 2020 NFL draft, which would all but signal the end of the Dalton era.
The Bengals did, however, keep Carson Palmer on the bench for the entirety of his rookie year in 2003 before handing him the keys to the offense in 2004. Perhaps Cincinnati envisions Dalton playing the role of Jon Kitna to help make a gradual transition to the long-term quarterback solution.
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