The Bengals have been answering questions about their plans for the first overall pick of this year’s draft at the Senior Bowl this week and most people expect they’ll be taking a quarterback who will displace Andy Dalton as the team’s starter.
Dalton remains under contract for the 2020 season with a $17.5 million base salary, so the Bengals could look to trade him before taking Joe Burrow or another quarterback in April. Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin told Ian Rapoport of NFL Media that the team is considering all possibilities and will be “in constant communication” with Dalton as the offseason unfolds.
“I can tell you one thing, what Andy Dalton’s done for the Cincinnati Bengals is not something that we’re going to forget and we’re not going to just willy-nilly, make something happen with him that, a) he’s uncomfortable with and, b) that we’re uncomfortable with,” Tobin said.
The Bengals can cut Dalton without a cap hit, but Tobin said the Bengals “don’t believe by a long stretch that his career is over” and someone else feeling that way could provide a path to Dalton’s departure.