Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Dalton plans to keep playing

Andy Dalton understands why Andrew Luck did what he did.

“It’s a decision he had been thinking about a while,” Dalton said. “At the end of the day, he’s thinking about his health and the quality of life he wants to have. I think one of the things he said is he hasn’t been the person he wants to be. That can weigh on you when you’re going through whatever you’re going through. He felt like it was a better decision for him to walk away. I’m happy for him that he has that peace and clarity.”

That said, Dalton is not thinking about retiring. How much longer he’ll be the Bengals quarterback is impossible to say. Dalton, at 31, is older than Luck. But their injury history is remarkably different. Dalton has missed a total of nine games in his career — four games (including a playoff game) in 2015 and five games last year, both times with thumb injuries.

“I’ve been lucky for sure,” he said. “The only thing I’ve had is my thumb, which is obviously unfortunate. But it’s my thumb. That’s all it’s been. I haven’t had anything too major. For (Luck), he’s played through a lot. If you look at this injury list and there’s probably stuff on it we don’t know.

And feels better than ever.

“I feel really good,” he said, “I’m ready to go.”

But the NFL is a fickle thing.

“I don’t know how I’ll play,” Dalton said. “I kind of get through stages. First, you’ve got to get to Year 10. I’m in Year 9 now. You kind of re-assess when you get there. I want to play as long as it makes sense for my family, as long as my body will let me.”

This is a transition year for Dalton. He has a new head coach for the first time. Zac Taylor was brought in to revitalize the Bengal offense. The previous coach, Marvin Lewis, was defense-minded.

Dalton is also coming off three straight losing season after leading the Bengals to the playoffs in each of his first five years. Dalton and Taylor have been a good match from the outset.

“It’s been good,” Dalton said. “Zac’s been great ever since he got here. We’ve been able to see how each other works and also get to know each other well. I’ve really enjoyed it.”

So has Taylor.

“Andy obviously has a lot of experience he can draw on,” Taylor said. “Even without that experience, he’s a very smart quarterback. I would imagine Day 1 when he walked in this building he was further ahead than most college quarterbacks. He’s had a chance to build on that and create a library of memories to pull from.

“You see that on the field. You see that you’re working with an experienced quarterback that can protect all your plays. You can say that he didn’t get sacked this preseason. He was only really pressured twice. Part of that was good protection. Part of that is having a quarterback who knows where his issues are and gets the ball out of his hands before that pressure can incur.

“It’s great to have a quarterback like that.”

Taylor’s system calls for a lot of short passes, a sort ball-control passing game.

“We do a lot of things that suit his strengths,” said quarterback coach Alex Van Pelt. “The play-action, the accuracy, the rhythm, throwing the ball on time are the things he does really well.”

The mark of any quarterback is wins and losses. Dalton enters this season 68-50-2. Part of that is playing effectively. Another part of that is being a leader. Dalton, who started Game 1 as a rookie, has grown into that.

“He’s a great leader,” Van Pelt said. “He does a great job with the guys. He connects with everybody in the locker room. Those guys have a lot of fun in there. Competing at ping pong, playing other games, enjoying each other. I think he does a great job with that.”

Dalton is under contract through 2020. He signed a six-year, $96 million extension in 2014. The $16 million average salary is cheap by quarterback standards. Minnesota signed Kirk Cousins to three-year, $84 million deal. Jimmy Garoppolo’s five-year deal with San Francisco pays him an average of $27.5 million.  

Dalton, of course, would have to sign a new contract to be a Bengal well into the future. A lot of factors will go into that — chiefly how successful the team is this year and next and how well Dalton plays under Taylor.

Taylor isn’t going to make roster predictions for the future.

“I love Andy Dalton,” he said. “I don’t think it’s intelligent to make any long-term decisions, but he is everything we want in this offense, and he’s a great leader. I’ve enjoyed working with him every single day and feel like we can have great success with him.”