Yes, the Patriots should sign Andy Dalton.
Yes, Dalton should scorn all others to sign with the Patriots.
No, this doesn't say anything about (anyone's precious) Jarrett Stidham and his possible future.
This is simply about what makes the Patriots a better football team for the 2020 season. This is the Patriots and Bill Belichick, right? How many times have we heard some version of "we will do what we feel is in the best interest of the football"?
Like this quote:
"Whatever a player was or wasn’t in the past is in the past and our decisions are for the future," Belichick said about a year ago. "So, what player can we add to our roster in whatever way we add them, that is the best decision at that point in time for our football team and that’s what we look at. ... So we’ll look ... whatever other players are available and make the decision that we feel like will benefit our football team."
It's in the best interest of the 2020 Patriots to sign Dalton, provided it's cheap. It's certainly in Dalton's best interest to sign with the Patriots.
READ — Bedard: Former Bengals teammate thinks Andy Dalton would be ‘good fit’ with the Patriots
READ — The case for and against the Patriots signing Cam Newton
It should happen. Do I think it will? No.
Here's why it should happen, and why, if I had to bet, I would wager against it happening.
WHY THE PATRIOTS SHOULD WANT DALTON
1. He's better than Brian Hoyer.
Look, no one respects Hoyer more than I do — he's a great teammate and a better player than many realize — but he's going to be 35 and has a 1-17 record in his past 18 starts. I understand he played on some really bad teams, and this will be part of the argument for Dalton, but Hoyer is what he is at this point: strictly a backup for a team with an experienced and semi-competent starter.
Dalton will be 33 this November and is 20-35 in his last four seasons as a starter. But he played for the Bengals, and was on a tanking team last year. Dalton is still a good, solid starter in this league who has won a lot of games.
Forget about beating out Stidham in training camp, which could happen. Say Stidham wins the job but is ineffective and the season is on the line. Do you want Hoyer or Dalton to start at Buffalo? If Stidham gets injured, is out for the season, and the Patriots need someone to push them through to a division title. Do you want Hoyer or Dalton to start against the Chiefs?
The answer should always be Dalton. For that reason, he makes the 2020 Patriots better and should be a serious consideration for the roster. Right, Bill?
"We’re really focused on this season and trying to look at our opportunities and make decisions and plan and prepare to be as competitive as we can be this year. So, that’s really what our focus is on," Belichick said two weeks ago in the Tom Brady, water-under-the-bridge answer.
Dalton makes the Patriots more competitive this season.
2. Iron sharpens iron.
Maybe Stidham is The Guy. Maybe he's the franchise's greatest draft pick since Brady. How on Earth does that change if Dalton's on the roster?
If Stidham is the Boy Wonder, then he should rise to the occasion if there's a competition whenever (if) we have a training camp. This is the same argument I made when I criticized the Jets (Mark Sanchez), Dolphins (Ryan Tannehill) and Bills (Josh Allen) over the years for failing to bring in real competition for their "franchise QBs." Those teams never did it, and those QBs and the teams (to this point for Allen) failed to become real contenders. Part of the issue could have been that those QBs weren't tested enough before the season even started. They knew their jobs weren't threatened, and they were soft as a result.
Brady had to compete against Bledsoe, at least in his own mind, every day for two years. When he got his chance, he was ready.
Stidham carried the clipboard for Brady and now his only competition is going to be Hoyer? That's no way to do this.
Push the kid, and the results will be better.
3. Patriots have plenty of QB brainpower.
We'll probably hear that Stidham needs Hoyer with him as a de-facto coach, and about how Hoyer even helped Brady in the Rams Super Bowl. I don't disagree with any of that, and I would keep three quarterbacks for that reason instead of the sixth special teams player who only plays 11 snaps a game.
But you know Belichick won't. He'll only keep two quarterbacks and Dalton is still worth more in that spot. The Patriots will have a dumbed-down offense. The whole thing is Josh McDaniels' baby, and they brought in the well-traveled Jedd Fisch to be a real QB coach while Mick Lombardi moves to receivers. Stidham shouldn't need any more tutoring than that.
4. How about giving the offense some options for a change?
When in doubt, Belichick gives his defensive and special teams coaches six different options when it comes to personnel. They now have five different starting-caliber safeties after the drafting of Kyle Dugger; 24 different edge combinations after selecting Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings.
Meanwhile, on offense, the Patriots still only have three receivers (Julian Edelman, Mohamed Sanu and N'Keal Harry) who have or have shown the potential to be difference-makers in the NFL. The only option beyond David Andrews at center is a late sixth-round pick. Two rookies who had minimal production in college (one season for Devin Asiasi; 23.3 touches per season for Dalton Keene).
Those players may be great and Damiere Byrd could be the secret weapon, but there can be no argument the Patriots are, once again, razor-thin on offense. They're going to do that at quarterback, too? Really? It's going to be Stidham-or-bust at quarterback?
Patriots need better depth and more options at the most important position if they want to be the best version of themselves this season.
5. Unlike Cam Newton, the offense won't have to be retrofit for Dalton.
We've made the argument for Newton and, given a real training camp and cheap price tag, he makes the Patriots better in my opinion. But he's a different quarterback than Stidham and you're looking at two different offenses should Newton join the Patriots. That might be a problem.
There's none of that with Dalton, even with the unknown with the pandemic. He's basically the same quarterback as Stidham — good arm strength with mobility — just in a more mature frame and with a lot more experience. They would fit well together.
Dalton would also be a terrific fit for what the Patriots like to do because he's best at executing gameplan and plays as they're drawn up, as former teammate George Iloka told BSJ:
"If you put a good gameplan in place — don’t take this as a knock Patriots Nation — he runs it to the exact T. In today’s NFL, the new-age guys are the guys who can create and make throws out of the pocket. People are used to that. That’s not Andy, although he is athletic enough to deal, it’s not something he’s not done in his career. But he gives you what you have in the gameplan. Hue Jackson had that great year with the Bengals and Andy was in the Pro Bowl. You see what I’m saying? The Patriots, in all my times playing them and watching them, they have never been a team that’s ever had an offense or a defense take the field without a great gameplan. When they lose, it’s usually because they get out-athleted. And that’s hard in the NFL, that’s why they rarely lose. Normally them running their gameplans gets them a lot of wins.
So if you have the Patriots and a guy like Andy, who I feel still can make all the throws needed to win, to me that’s a good relationship that Patriots fans should embrace. I would say, yeah, maybe he gets a little bit flustered when something different comes up and yes you would hope an NFL QB with his experience would see that and deal with it but only like six or seven QBs can deal with that on the fly. But if you put the gameplan in place and you prepare him for what he may see, he’s going to throw you three or four TDs a game and be efficient. He needs protection and weapons. If you’re not going to have a good gameplan in place, you don’t want him Patriots Nation. Or if you’re not going to get a few more weapons like Brady last year, you probably don’t want him.
But if you give him a good gameplan, a few weapons and a good line, Andy Dalton is a good fit for that team, especially with Belichick and Josh McDaniels as the OC."
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Do I think the Patriots will sign Dalton? No, I don't.
I think, at the end of the day once they discuss the potential, Belichick will default to the thinking that Dalton isn't a huge upgrade on Hoyer and it's not worth upsetting the applecart.
I don't agree with that thinking, especially since it would just continue the thinking that Belichick has continually shortchanged the offense in recent years, but I don't have six Super Bowl rings. I'm always for more competition and better depth options (remember when Robert Kraft used to talk about how the NFL was "a business about quality depth management" all the time? Haven't heard that in a while). Dalton would make the Patriots better in both areas.
Also, I think Dalton will foolishly take the most money offered and pass up his last and best chance to play for a winner like Belichick.
Too bad on both counts. Made too much sense.