Andy Dalton is a Quitter

[muskiesfan]

I don't know why I'm going to waste my time, but here goes nothing.

So a few people who have been very vocal about how much they dislike Dalton, constantly say he's horrible, and have wished he was gone for at least a couple of seasons have gotten their wish. However, instead of being happy about that, they want to try to further tear him down in hopes of turning more people against the guy that they have wanted gone and is now gone.

As for last season, the Bengals played it poorly. They wanted to see what they had in Finley, which is totally fine. However, had they announced they were making the change a week earlier they may have been able to find a market to trade Dalton. While not confirmed, there were rumors that the Bears were interested last season. They could've cleared Dalton's salary and gained additional draft capital but decided to play it differently. True, Dalton asked for a trade but he did not demand it. He did not refuse to play for the team. He said he would help Finley. I wouldn't call that quitting. He stayed and played.

As for the offseason, the Bengals showed their hand. They could've received the 4th rounder from the Bears that they gave for Foles. We don't now why they didn't take it. Either the team felt it was too low of a pick or maybe Dalton didn't want to go there. Again, this was misplayed. However, the team goes out and is very active in free agency. Spending in excess of $125m to try and improve the team. They made cuts and went way outside of their usual approach.

After free agency and the draft, the team doesn't have enough to sign all of their draft picks. They had no trade leverage and were unable to trade Dalton. Everyone knew he HAD to go. If nothing else, his money had to come off the books to sign the draft picks. The team was going to have to release him either way, he sped up the process by asking for his release. To label him a quitter still seems a stretch. Him coming off the books allows the team to sign their draft picks, he also called and welcomed Burrow to the team, and according to Ken Anderson said he was willing to be Burrow's back up.

As for the last part, I trust what Ken Anderson says much more than the biased and opinionated posts of the people on this board. If he says Andy said he was willing to back up Burrow, I believe Andy said that. So yet again, he was willing to accept a back role but asked to released. He didn't say he wouldn't play for the team. He didn't say he wouldn't show up. He said he would be the back up but asked for his release which had to happen anyway.

I'll be honest, I don't know if there was any talk of restructuring his deal. I don't think anyone has heard anything about that. I also don't know how that would work with it being the last year of Andy's deal. There's no future years to push money to, so would it stand to reason he would have to be released to be re-signed to a lower number? For all we know if Andy doesn't find somewhere he wants to go, maybe he comes back on a cheap 1 year deal to back up Burrow after all.

I shouldn't have bothered because those of you who really detest the guy are going to continue to put him down regardless. He isn't a quitter and didn't quit on the Bengals. His situation in nothing at all like what happened with Palmer. Continue to bash away though. Evidently it makes you feel better about yourself to put this guy down for some reason.