Dynasty: Andy Dalton (1 Viewer)

[King of the Jungle]

Dalton has seemingly defied odds and led his team to a good start this season. From an outsiders view he appears to be statistically impressive for a rookie QB and utilizing his weapons well. I have not had an opportunity to watch him play however am intrigued by his situation.

NOTICEABLE POSITIVES

*Great young talent surrounding him. AJ Green and Jermaine Gresham appear to have the ability to become top 5 at their respective positions.

*Bengals will have two first round picks next year and will be able to address any weaknesses in the draft (adding potentially a dynamic running back).

*I have heard he is very accurate with short to mid range passes

NOTICEABLE NEGATIVES

*Historically a tough division defensively.

*I have heard he is limited with his arm strength.

So my question is how does this kid look? Will he be limited due to lack of arm strength or do his other abilities make that less significant?

TIA

 

[cheese]

I think you've pretty much nailed it honestly. He looks amazing at short and intermediate throws. I think he's shown the arm strength to drive longer throws on point and between defenders, but he struggles on the really DEEP ball where he actually needs air under it.

He's exceptional on screen passes, just dropping them right over the D and right on point.

Another small negative might be that Lewis is never going to be a coach that WANTS to throw a ton. If the Bengals can get a lead, they're always going to turn right back to the run. Lewis is probably not going anywhere for a while. Definitely has a potential to be a much better real life QB than fantasy QB.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Is Chad Pennington a good comparison?

I don't mean that in a negative way. He wasn't as good near the end of his career after multiple arm surgeries, so people tend to forget Pennington - never good at the deep ball - was a really decent value in FF. Folks always underestimated his effectiveness. Guy never threw a RZ interception until like his 6th or 7th year in the league.

That's how I view Dalton. You could call him a game manager, though that is usually a pejorative. I think with the talent the Bengals have at WRs/TE, he will be an exceptional GM.

 

[Kirby]

Pretty impressive for a rookie. Needs to work on the deep ball. He has a Calvin/Fitzesque jumper in Green and needs to learn it's better to throw short and let him fight for it instead of over throwing him. He also freaks out a little when the pocket gets small and flees instead of standing in there and finding a receiver... but on a positive.. when he does flee he'll throw it away instead of forcing it and throwing a pick.

 

[BobbyLayne]

re: Pennington

My earlier post is wrong. Chad was between 14th and 20th 5 out of 7 years from 2002 to 2008; 27th and 41st the other two (PPG). Guess he wasn't a value QB, just a solid FF backup.

Still, my point remains - I think Dalton has enough talent around him to be a QB8-QB12 type game manager. The kind of FF QB who won't win you a title because his upside is limited, he'll never be elite, but I already love his consistency. Plug in a guy like that and you can focus on grabbing studs elsewhere if you don't like to reach for a QB early.

 

[Warrior]

Re: Pennington

Pennington was very accurate, not much arm strength. That's the comparison...not fantasy points.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Re: Pennington Pennington was very accurate, not much arm strength. That's the comparison...not fantasy points.

Correct. Thought I made that clear.But the difference IMO is he has better corps to throw to, so I expect his LT value (and FF points) to be higher than Chad was in his prime.

 

[cheese]

FWIW, I don't really believe that being bad at throwing the deep ball is the same as not having arm strength. He can get it there just fine. In fact, usually too hard and too far.

 

[QuizGuy66]

Is Chad Pennington a good comparison?I don't mean that in a negative way. He wasn't as good near the end of his career after multiple arm surgeries, so people tend to forget Pennington - never good at the deep ball - was a really decent value in FF. Folks always underestimated his effectiveness. Guy never threw a RZ interception until like his 6th or 7th year in the league.That's how I view Dalton. You could call him a game manager, though that is usually a pejorative. I think with the talent the Bengals have at WRs/TE, he will be an exceptional GM.

Pennington is one guy he's been compared to. Perhaps the optimist in me would like to say a guy like Phil Simms He's smart - already making (good) decisions changing plays at the line of scrimmage. The long ball is the big flaw in his game for sure, but his throws in the 20-yard range are fine so I think that's good enough. I think going forward he'll be very efficient. I don't think he'll ever be a 35-TD guy but I don't think he'll throw more than 12 INTS a year after this break-in season. The more technical the league (i.e. one that uses stuff like completion percentage) the better he'll be. -QG