Andy Dalton‘s injury could force the Bengals to look to the future, Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com writes. Jeff Driskel has the reins now in Cincinnati and his performance could lead the Bengals to reconsider Dalton as their future starter or, at least, reconsider their backup QB situation.
Dalton has two years remaining on a six-year, $96MM contract extension he signed in 2014, but the Bengals can move on next year without any fiscal penalty. There are no roster bonuses remaining on the deal either, so the Bengals could theoretically part ways with Dalton at any point in the spring or summer.
Terrell expects Dalton to stay put, unless there’s an overhaul of the coaching staff or Driskel knocks it out of the park over the next five games. Given the Bengals’ history with Marvin Lewis, a Driskel-powered winning streak may be the only thing to threaten the Red Rifle in Cincinnati.
Here’s more from the AFC North:
- Bruce Arians is wisely looking to drum up fan interest in his quest to become the Browns‘ next head coach, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. As Florio notes, one homeless man allegedly pushed owner Jimmy Haslam to select Johnny Manziel, so it’s possible that the fans could influence the team’s next coaching hire. In his latest round of comments, the former Cardinals head coach said he would keep Freddie Kitchens as offensive coordinator and would consider keeping interim head coach Gregg Williams as the defensive coordinator.
- Le’Veon Bell‘s bitter divorce with Steelers was in the works for a long time, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com writes. A faction of the Steelers locker room wanted no distractions this year, Fowler writes, so Bell’s decision to sit out the entire season was not exactly devastating in Pittsburgh.
- This week, Bell hinted on Instagram that he would like to join the Colts and team up with quarterback Andrew Luck (via ESPN.com’s Mike Wells). It’s not clear whether the Colts will be players for the Steelers running back, but they will be armed with a league high of $120MM+ in cap space.
Bengals should move on from Andy dalton. At this point they know who he is, and they can do better… Florio is a pretentious d bag… bell will go to whoever pays the most money, Colts happen to have the most cap room, coincidence?
Just cause they have the most cap space doesn’t mean they will offer the most money.
I don’t know how you make the assumption that is what I am insinuating from my first statement… notice how Bell didn’t make mention of other perceived contenders with less cap room, i.e Texans, Eagles, Redskins, etc.
How’d that homeless guy’s pick of Manziel work out for the Browns? Maybe, they’ll let my dog pick the next head coach. I’ll put a bunch of names on pieces of paper and whichever one the dog poops on can be the next HC.
Bell is just mentioning the Colts because they do have money to spend. But do they want to overpay Bell like he wants?
That’s exactly it. He wants paid and they have the most money to spend. But for some reason I don’t think he’s going to get as big a pay day as he’s wanting. Losing 15mil this year is something he will regret
Hoping Colts don’t go for that. They do not need distraction like Bell. Ballard is doing great with his picks, just don’t need someone like Bell.
The Browns don’t need Bruce but maybe he could join Virginia Tech and show them how to beat Old Dominion.
Yeah I think Arians needs to do something else besides coaching commentating. Cleveland should be going after a young coach who can grow with the team.