Andy Dalton upset about benching; agent tried to find trade suitors

While the timing of benching Andy Dalton for Ryan Finley seems right for the Bengals, it wasn’t unanimously agreed upon by all parties.

Dalton spoke with the media today, less than a full day since the news of his demotion broke, and expressed clear frustration about the decision head coach Zac Taylor made, mainly because it happened so close to the trade deadline.

Dalton said his agent attempted to survey trade options with other teams, but made it clear that there wasn’t enough time to get any deal settled.

Clearly nobody wants to get benched, especially franchise quarterbacks, but trading Dalton made too much sense for the Bengals, and his displeasure is well placed here. By announcing his demotion so close to the trade deadline, it can be assumed that the Bengals had no intention of trading Dalton away, and that would add onto the incompetence here

Not every player is A.J. Green and wants to stick around in Cincinnati unquestionably. If Dalton wanted out to start somewhere else, the front office should’ve helped him accomplish that. Whether it was telling him personally well before yesterday’s announcement or simply announcing it on Monday, this could’ve been handled much better.

Now, the Bengals will have a reluctant and disgruntled backup quarterback for the rest of their lost season. They can still try to trade him in the offseason, but his value will surely be lower when the rest of the NFL knows he’s out the door anyways.

For now, the Bengals have an extremely expensive clipboard holder, as if that was the intention all along.