Andy Dalton trade rumors: 5 NFL teams who should make a deal with Bengals
5. Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers enter the 2020 offseason finding themselves in quarterback limbo. Cam Newton was limited to only two games in the 2019 regular season. And at one point, it looked as if they may have found a gem in Kyle Allen to potentially allow the franchise to move on from Newton and into the future. Unfortunately, that turned out to not be the case.
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While Newton is assumedly set to come back healthy for the 2020 season, the discussion of whether or not the Panthers are still going to move on from him remains in question. He’s 30 years old and his body has seemingly been breaking down in recent years. Furthermore, hiring Matt Rhule and Joe Brady as head coach and offensive coordinator, respectively, seems to indicate the franchise moving in a new direction.
Armed with the No. 7 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, if the Panthers move on from Newton (likely via a trade of their own), the assumption would be that they would either take a quarterback there or trade up to get their guy. In either case, however, they could use a veteran stopgap like Dalton to potentially guide them into this new era.
For Dalton, this would be a situation where he could potentially thrive and further increase his value moving forward while also winning in 2020. Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel are all viable weapons, and the defense in Carolina is solid. The key would be if the Panthers could convince Cincinnatti to pay some of Dalton’s salary for 2020 but, if they could, this trade would make a lot of sense for Dalton and the Panthers alike.