
Patriots, Bengals Move Closer To Finalizing Andy Dalton Trade
The New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals are moving closer to finalizing an Andy Dalton trade, it would appear.
At the moment, it is unclear what Tom Brady’s next move will be. He may return to New England. He may depart and join the Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, Tennessee Titans, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins or Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brady’s future is a total crapshoot at this stage.
Because of all the uncertainty, the Patriots are beginning to make preparations for life without the quarterback with whom they have won six Super Bowls. A Plan B, of sorts.
Over the past few weeks, rumors have intensified of Bill Belichick making a place to acquire Dalton from the Bengals.
New England has a decent amount in the way of trade capital, and Cincinnati brass promised to send Dalton somewhere decent in light of their inevitable drafting of Joe Burrow.
Dalton to the Patriots makes sense from all angles.
According to Mike Freeman of the Bleacher Report, New England has very “real” interest in making a play for Dalton.
“Several teams have mentioned to me that the Patriots’ reported interest in Dalton is even real,” Freeman said.
“Bill Belichick, like others around the league, believes Dalton has untapped potential and that it’s been hard to decipher how truly good or bad he is because he’s played in Cincinnati.”
Dalton has consistently been one of the league’s better quarterbacks, albeit not an amazing one.
While he obviously was nowhere close to Brady during Brady’s prime, there is a reasonable case to be made that the gap between the two is not what it used to be.
If Brady leaves, the Patriots could do a lot worse than bringing Dalton in to serve as his replacement.
Related: Redskins Preparing To Trade For Cam Newton?

A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.