There has been some grumbling of late that Dalton is not elite, and no he is not yet elite. He has struggled in the big games, but he has appeared in 2 playoffs in 2 seasons. So looking at their #'s, how does Andy compare with Kenny, Boomer & Carson (other QB's drafted by Cincy who had good, long careers)?

There were 2 ways to look at this...either by AGE or by YEAR.

For example, Carson's first year was on the bench, and he didn't start until he was 25. Whereas Kenny was in his 4th year starting by the time he was 25. Since we are looking at such young points in their careers, I decided to look at age, because i'm not sure a 22 year old Kenny is really a fair comparison vs. a 25 year old Carson.

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Age 25:

Kenny Anderson

Had started 3.5 years in the league.

His first 2 seasons were a mediocre 56% completions, 12 TD to 11 INT, and a 7-10 record.

His 3rd season was better.

His 4th season (at age 25) was great by 1974 standards. While only 7-6, he led the league with: 213 completions, 64.9 %, 8.1 yards / att, 205 yards per game, and 95.7 QB rating.

He missed the pro-bowl at age 25 to guys with better team records and better names, but inferior stats...nothing new...

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Boomer Esiason

Had started 2.5 years in the league.

His first year was meh, but his 2nd year produced 27 TD to only 12 INT, 3443 yards, and a 93.2 QB rating.

At age 25 he followed that up with 24 TD, 17 INT, 3959 yards, 87.7 QB rating, and a 10-6 record, plus a pro-bowl trip.

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Carson Palmer

Was starting his 1st year in the league at age 25.

He was decent with 60.9%, 2897 yards, 18 TD and 18 INT, and a 77.3 QB rating, to go with a 6-7 record.

He saved the best for age 26 when he had his career year, but that was to come.

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Andy Dalton

At age 25 Dalton started his 2nd year in the league.

He threw for 3669 with 27 TD and 16 INT with a 62.3% and a 87.4 QB rating, plus a 10-6 record.

All of those #'s were up from his first year (which is good except for the 3 more INT's)

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So by the age of 25 it is an interesting comparison as to who was the best up to that point, and who projected to be the best beyond that point...

Kenny had the most starts, and really was a league leader at age 25.

Boomer was airing it out a lot, although was a little off from his age 24 season.

Dalton pretty much improved across the board from 24 to 25, but was far from competing for any league titles.