CHARLOTTE, N.C. — This isn’t the first time Andy Dalton has replaced a No. 1 pick at quarterback.
The situation was a little different in the summer of 2011. Dalton was a 24-year-old rookie for the Cincinnati Bengals, whose starting quarterback — Carson Palmer, the first pick in 2003 — was holding out for a contract extension after a nearly 4,000-yard passing season in 2010.
Dalton didn’t exactly light it up in the Bengals’ first two preseason games, throwing three interceptions and no touchdowns after being taken in the second round in a draft in which Cam Newton went No. 1 overall to the Carolina Panthers.
A few veterans on the Bengals’ defense wanted to fly to Palmer’s offseason home in California to talk him into ending his holdout. But Andrew Whitworth, the stalwart left tackle and a team captain, saw something in Dalton, the redheaded, right-hander from TCU whose first exposure to the Bengals’ coaches and offense was at training camp after the 2011 lockout ended.
Whitworth liked how Dalton had run the offense and handled the pass protections against the Rex Ryan-coached Jets. Whitworth called a meeting in coach Marvin Lewis’ office with some of the other team leaders.
“I’ve been around guys. I think Andy Dalton’s got a special character to him and understanding of this offense,” Whitworth recalled saying. “We’ve gotta buckle down and just play with this guy as our quarterback, and we’re gonna be a lot better than you guys think.”
“Lo and behold,” Whitworth said, “five playoff appearances later and a bunch of division championships, he proved me right.”
Fast forward 13 years. There’s now a little gray starting to poke through Dalton’s beard, and he’s not taking over for a veteran during a contract dispute, but stepping in for a struggling, second-year quarterback who’s lost his way.
But the same things that sold Whitworth on Dalton in 2011 make him confident Dalton will settle things down for the Carolina Panthers in the wake of the jarring, Week 3 benching of Bryce Young.
“I just think what they need is a little bit of calm,” said Whitworth, who retired in 2022 after 16 seasons. “Like, ‘Hey, nobody’s gotta stress out about the young quarterback and what he may or may not understand. What we can do is just go and try to operate and execute this offense the way coach is putting in.’
“Andy’s going to bring that calm steel to them,” Whitworth added. “To where it’s like Andy knows exactly what’s going on. He can teach (the offense) by now. I know him. He can teach what they’re being asked to do.”
What Dalton is being asked to do is make Dave Canales’ scheme look like something more than a rudimentary passing attack and help the Panthers at least be competitive after dropping their first two games by a combined score of 73-13.
In his only previous start for Carolina, Dalton kept the Panthers in the game while subbing for an injured Young last year at Seattle, which also came in Week 3. Dalton completed 34 of 58 passes for 361 yards and two touchdowns in a 37-27 defeat. The pass attempts were the third most in a game in franchise history, and the completions tied for third by a Panthers quarterback.
It would be the Panthers’ best passing performance of the season. A healthy Young returned to the starting lineup the following week and stayed there through a chaotic season in which he endured an in-season coaching change and several flip-flops in the offensive play calling.
While Young was getting battered behind an injury-plagued offensive line and posting the NFL’s worst passer rating, Dalton ran the scout-team offense every week while waiting for another chance he wasn’t sure would come.
Then Canales pulled him aside Monday morning to tell him he was making a switch, and just like that the 36-year-old Dalton was preparing for the Las Vegas Raiders and his 164th career start. Dalton enters Sunday’s game ranked seventh among active quarterbacks in career passing yards (38,511) and sixth in passing touchdowns (246).
“His resume speaks for itself,” Canales said. “He’s an experienced player. He’s got a lot of football in his history. I’m excited for Andy with this opportunity.”
If Canales was excited, Dalton was almost giddy when meeting with the media Monday shortly after getting the news. That has carried over to the practice field this week.
“As competitors, you’re excited to get an opportunity. You could see that with his press conference and just the way he’s shown (in practice with) his command and all those things,” wide receiver Adam Thielen said. “He’s excited to be out here and to be able to compete.”
Dalton’s display of emotion and energy is something the Panthers rarely saw from Young, who maintained the same low-key demeanor whether in a game or position meeting. As Young shifts to the backup role, Canales said he wanted him to be consistent and “come with the excitement and the focus about what we’re doing every day.”
While Dalton was enthusiastic, he also empathized with Young’s position. Dalton was in a similar spot with Cincinnati in 2019, when the Bengals lost their first eight games and Dalton lost the starting job to Ryan Finley, a rookie from NC State.
Worse, first-year coach Zac Taylor delivered the news on Dalton’s 32nd birthday — a punch-in-the-gut present Dalton received poorly. After leading the Bengals to four consecutive playoff berths from 2011-14 and five total, Dalton spent a few days sulking.
“I got challenged by our team chaplain (LaMorris Crawford) to be the same guy that you were before. It’s easy to go in and be quiet, not talk about much. But I was choosing to do that,” Dalton recalled. “He’s like, ‘You’re not a stubborn person. Don’t be stubborn, as much as you want to be. Choose to be the same guy.’ I think that’s what carried me through.”
Dalton reclaimed the starting spot a few weeks later, broke Kenny Anderson’s franchise record for career passing touchdowns and led the Bengals to their only wins during a 2-14 season. Five months later, Cincinnati drafted LSU quarterback Joe Burrow with the No. 1 pick and released Dalton, who threw for more yards in a Bengals uniform than everyone but Anderson.
After leaving Cincinnati, Dalton had one-year stops in Dallas, Chicago and New Orleans before signing a two-year, $10 million deal with the Panthers to back up and mentor Young.
“From the moment I got here, I was gonna do everything I could to help Bryce and to try to help this team,” he said.
“Bryce and I are really close. It’s tough sitting in that position, hearing that you’re not gonna be starting and all the emotions that come with it. Hopefully our friendship and everything that we’ve built from the moment he got here will stay. And I know it will.”
After Dalton targeted the 34-year-old Thielen 14 times (for 11 catches, 145 yards and a TD) last year at Seattle, Dalton referred to their connection as “dad ball.”
“Just two dads out there playing ball on Sunday,” Dalton said. “(Thielen) is a guy that does things the right way and he’s in the right spot. It’s what you want as a quarterback.”
“It was definitely a thing last year,” he added. “Bryce would say stuff. Some of the coaches would say stuff, too. Hopefully we can continue dad ball this week.”
(Top photo of Andy Dalton: Christopher Mast / Getty Images)
