4. Cincinnati Bengals
It’s highly unlikely the Ravens would trade Flacco to a division rival, unless they have no fear of the move a la Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles trading Donovan McNabb to the Redskins after the 2009 season.
But the Bengals will have a decision to make on Andy Dalton this offseason and his season-ending thumb injury may make it a little easier.
Now headed to IR w/ an torn thumb ligament, has Andy Dalton played his last snap for the #Bengals? The 31-yr-old has earned $67M in 8 seasons, & has $34M left over the next 2 years. But he can be released this March at a $0 dead cap charge ($16.2M saved).https://t.co/NEqTYsNcrA
— Spotrac (@spotrac) November 26, 2018
The Bengals can save $16.2 million in 2019 cap space by cutting Dalton, with no dead money to carry. A potential (likely?) new head coach, once Marvin Lewis is inevitably let go, will probably want his own guy under center even if it’s thought Dalton will be back next season.
Of course it’s possible being hired to replace Lewis will carry the prerequisite of being able to live with Dalton as the starter next year.
Flacco is not an upgrade over Dalton on the surface, with slightly worse career numbers across the board. But if the Ravens cut him and the Bengals shift from the expected course to move on from Dalton, Flacco may relish the idea of playing his former team twice a year.
Cincinnati can benefit from him having that “prove them wrong” chip on his shoulder.
There’s also an angle where the Bengals could look to add legit competition for Dalton during the offseason, at which point Flacco would stand out among available options.