Andy Dalton Is Going Back Home To Texas

First, we must note that Andy Dalton felt that his chances of being picked were have diminished because the Bengals waited so long to release him. The Cincy front office had been planning to for some time now. Dalton has been with the Bengals for nine years and while he did take them to the postseason in each of his first five years, they did not win a postseason game over that stretch. Cincinnati had the first overall pick in the draft this year and they took LSU QB Joe Burrow, who won the Heisman last year. At that point, it was even more clear that Dalton would be moving on. The question that many wanted to know is “Where will he be going?”

That answer came just a short while ago when it was announced that the Dallas Cowboys picked him up for one year. The deal is worth up to seven million dollars and Dalton will get a guaranteed three million. Signing a deal to be a backup was expected but what wasn’t expected was that he would be going to the Dallas Cowboys.

The Patriots were the lead team that was rumored to be interested in signing the 3-time Pro Bowl quarterback, so this is a complete shock. Other teams that could have gone after him, include the Jaguars or the Jets as neither team has a good backup at all, and Dalton would be a good Mentor for Gardner Minshew or Sam Darnold. The Bears could have also taken him as they did not pick up the 5th year option for Mitchell Trubisky. The Cowboys were not even on the radar but they wound up with him.

For Dalton, this is huge as he is going back to Texas, which is the state he grew up in. Katy, Texas to be exact. He also played at Texas Christian in College and threw for 10,314 yards 71 TDs and 30 INTs there while taking the Horned Frogs to a bowl game in all four years. Following his years at TCU, he became a 2nd round draft pick of the Bengals in 2011. Dalton threw for 31,594 yards with 204 TDs and 118 INTs in his nine years with the team and he will be a valuable backup for the Cowboys this year.

The announcement was first made by Adam Schefter on Twitter.