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Andy Dalton has endured his fair share of criticism during his first four NFL seasons.
Despite winning 40 games to start his career, Dalton's 0-4 mark in the postseason continues to hover over him like a black cloud. Until he gets his team over that hump, Dalton will continue to be regarded with such words as 'mediocre,' 'average' and simply 'bad.'
Count Rotoworld's Patrick Daugherty among those who are not fans of Dalton. His ranking of all 32 QBs saw the Bengals and their signal caller come in at No 21:
Andy Dalton will be remembered long after his career is over. Not for his playoff victories — of which there will quite possibly be zero — but for setting the new standard of mediocrity. Dalton isn’t good enough for a long-term deal. The Bengals are paying their 2011 second-rounder as they go. But he is good enough to be comfortably ahead of A.J. McCarron.
Dalton is the blurred line between good and bad, the frustrating realization that even quarterbacks this good/bad/maybe watchable/probably not are hard to find. Dalton is the poster child for the quixotic quest of finding an NFL signal caller. He will never be Peyton Manning, or even Joe Flacco. At least he’s not Kyle Orton.
He's not Kyle Orton... at least the Bengals have that much going for them.
Some of the notable QBs Dalton managed to rank ahead of were Jay Cutler, Carson Palmer and Robert Griffin III. Alex Smith is ranked just ahead of Dalton at No. 20 and Colin Kaepernick came in at No. 19. Most would agree those three are at or around the median of NFL QBs.
Regardless, you can definitely make the case for Dalton and the Bengals bring higher on this list. After all, they've been to the postseason four times with Dalton. If he had just one playoff win under his belt, he'd probably be at least a few spots higher on this list.