Cincinnati Bengals: Should Andy Dalton be part of future?

Long-time Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton has been placed on IR, but what is his outlook with this franchise beyond his 2018 season being over?

The once-promising 2018 season has turned into an absolute quagmire for the Cincinnati Bengals. An exciting 4-1 start to the year has devolved into an injury-filled calamity of errors and blowouts that leaves the team now sitting at 5-6 and missing a ton of the big names who were needed for success.

One of the people on that list now is Cincinnati’s long-time starting quarterback Andy Dalton. Dalton wasn’t able to finish the game against the Browns. During the first Cincinnati drive of the second half, the ball was hiked well over his head, and the thumb on his throwing hand came away injured in the ensuing scuffle for the ball.

The injury didn’t appear that bad at first, but after some tests, it is apparently bad enough that Dalton was quickly placed on injured reserve only a day later. With Dalton done for 2018, it’s time to start wondering about the future — both for him and this team as a whole.

There’s little reason outside of complacency or saving money for bringing back Marvin Lewis after the disastrous collapse this team has undergone. Assuming (more like hoping against all previously proven notions) that owner Mike Brown doesn’t just keep Hue Jackson around as his replacement, a brand new face will be leading the way come the start of 2019 — and with it, a brand new plan will be in place.

Will that plan include Dalton — and more importantly, should it? There are understandable reasons for them to go in either direction (keeping Dalton or moving on) regardless of who is the head coach past this season. But which side of that argument should win out?

Let’s look at some different areas of importance to get us to that answer.