If I were the Bengals, I'd re-sign Dalton, but keep looking (trades, draft, etc) and hopefully you will find your guy.

 

Just letting him go doesn't necessarily mean you'll be better off in the future.

 

In fact, I'd argue that cutting him will decrease your chances of making the playoffs in the foreseable future.

 

Yes, you could potentially find your QB, but it's not a guarantee.  The Bengals have a good enough roster to be around .500 so even without Dalton, I doubt they would get first dibs on a guy like Winston for example.

 

Keeping Dalton is simply the smart thing to do.... not like you have to win the superbowl next year.  If you can be a playoff team 8/10 years Dalton plays there, you have 10 offseasons for potentially finding that diamond in the rough, or that 3rd round QB that develops into something better than Dalton.

 

Letting him go and "starting from scratch" is foolish IMO.

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