Let’s face it if you are turning to your backup QB the season is over unless you have a crazy historic run like Nick Foles when he played for the Eagles and won the Super Bowl. Unless you have a young player that you took a flyer on in the draft a team generally goes with their starter until he is either injured or their record is disgusting. So does the backup to Joe Burrow even matter?
Currently on the bench is Ryan Finley who started three games last season and had terrible stats. His completion percentage was a sad 47.1% and had a TD/INT ratio of 2/2. Yes he only threw two touchdowns in three games. His passer rating was 62.1. Nope, he is not the answer if Burrow goes down and I am convinced the Bengals through him in to tank for Tua….or burn down for Burrow.
The third string QB is Jake Dolegala who likes like a high school kid and played at Central Connecticut State. He is 6’7″ so he has that going for him.
So why am I even writing about this? It goes back to a conversation I had with a buddy about keeping Dalton to teach Burrow and ease him into the NFL. A lot of the great QBs had this and rarely does a QB start their first season in the modern NFL. It gives the player time to learn the playbook, pace of the game and how to run a NFL offense and be a professional. Jon Kitna was the perfect person for this to ease Carson Palmer into the league. Andy Dalton didn’t have anyone because Palmer bailed on the team. Was Dalton worse off? I do not think so.
So let’s play this game and see who is left to pickup as a FA to at least sit behind Burrow and help him along. In my opinion the QB should be 1) an accomplished veteran who has spent time starting and being on the bench, 2) not completely suck, and 3) no expectation of starting again for a team. So here is that list: Joe Flacco, Josh McCown, Matt Moore and Joe Webb.
That is not a terrible group of guys and I would pursue Josh McCown or Joe Flacco. Flacco has a lot of experience in the AFC and specifically the AFC North. Joe Cool made a cool $18.5M last season with Denver and he has to expect a major paycut as a career backup now. McCown has been a journeyman and played with 9 teams. He cost the Eagles $2M last year to backup Carson Wentz. I really prefer McCown here. The guy comes off like a jerk on television but Burrow has his own bravado and I could see these guys hitting it off as a mentor/mentee relationship.