Throughout his 13th NFL season, the Panthers’ new quarterback Andy Dalton has played both as a starter and backup before, yet one spot that he always dreamed to rule unanimously is the team’s starting quarterback job.
With the Bengals for the first nine years of his career, Dalton offered his playing abilities as a starter, generating a 70-61-2 record in 133 games, the highest winning percentage (.534) of any Bengals quarterback with 25 or more starts.
The former Bengals quarterback, who previously played for several teams as a backup or part-time starter, is now attempting to establish himself as the Panthers’ starting quarterback for the upcoming campaign.
Andy Dalton: views on being the starting QB
Once Andy enjoyed his favorite job on the NFL field with the Cincinnati Bengals, unfortunately, which was taken over by Joe Burrow. Since then, he played as a backup for Dak Prescott in Dallas, Justin Fields in Chicago, and Jameis Winston in New Oreland, yet the dream of ruling as a starter was limited for the 35-year-old.
However, this offseason Dalton moved into another NFL chapter of his career by signing with the Panthers in free agency and after this stunning move the quarterback already started to see himself as the starter of the team as he could not find any eligible candidate to run for the team better than him that he boldly retorted through the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“I view myself as a starter in this league; I don’t think there are 32 guys better than me. But this is the situation I am in, and I understand that. As soon as I don’t think I’m one of the best 32, or a little lower, I’ll be watching football on TV.”
With Josh McCown as his coach and a friend of ten years, the quarterback has found himself in much better circumstances after starting his new journey with the Panthers this season.
“I am in a really, really good situation here; Frank Reich played til he was 38. He was a career backup,” Dalton said. “He understands the continuity you want in a (quarterback) room. Josh McCown played until he was 40. Josh was my friend for the last 10 years, and now he’s my coach.”
Who should be the starting QB for Panthers?
The starting quarterback is the most crucial job for a team that the Panthers team does not want to execute it so lightly, hence According to the level of league experience, general manager Scott Fitterer believes the veteran quarterback in his 13th season is the ideal candidate to fill the position.
“We went out and signed Andy Dalton for a reason: He played as a rookie, he’s got a lot of experience, he understands his role and he can play good football,” Fitterer said while also noting that Dalton is the starting QB “Right now,” Fitterer said.
When the Panthers picked Bryce Young as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City, the NFL world speculated the rookie player was the starter of the team for this season. Nevertheless, the Panthers decided to open the season with the former Saints player and let Bryce prepare himself to take over the role when he will appear as ready for the job.
“If Andy’s the guy to start the season, and he’s the starter right now heading into the season, then he’ll be the guy,” Fitterer said. “When Bryce is ready or Matt Corral is ready whoever it may be, that’ll be the time they go in. We say it’s open competition, but Frank did say, ‘Hey, Andy’s he’s our guy right now. He’ll walk into the season as the starter and then as you know, the young guys compete underneath him, then they’ll go in when they’re ready.”
The Panthers put their trust in AD by giving him the starter job, now it is the turn of the players to materialize his dream while battling with Young for the spots in the upcoming season.
