Report: There's No 'Aggressive Push' By Patriots to Sign QB Andy Dalton

"If anything, it would be a conversation of due diligence and really asking the question 'How would bringing in a player like Dalton supplement what they have in Stidham?'"

The Cincinnati Bengals released quarterback Andy Dalton on Thursday after reportedly trying to trade him but finding no suitor. Dalton was seemingly going to play backup in 2020 to Joe Burrow, who the team selected with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft last week. Dalton wants an opportunity to compete elsewhere, so the team parted ways with him after nine years.

The release of Dalton sparked the big question in New England: should the Patriots sign him?

While some people may think it's a good idea for the Patriots to add a talented veteran like Dalton, and others - like us at PatriotMaven - think the opposite, ESPN's Mike Reiss shined some light on what the organization's thoughts are on the subject while appearing on ESPN's morning show "Get Up!".

"Everyone I talk to around the Patriots it really comes back to two words - Jarrett Stidham," Reiss said. "They are really intrigued to see what he can do. So specific to Andy Dalton, I didn't get any sense from anyone around the Patriots that when he became available yesterday that there was an aggressive push to sort of see where that would lead. If anything, it would be a conversation of due diligence and really asking the question 'How would bringing in a player like Dalton supplement what they have in Stidham?' not supplant him, and that's knowing that they also have veteran Brian Hoyer in the room, who they feel really comfortable with as well."

There's no doubt Dalton is talented. Despite playing for an abysmal organization like Cincinnati for the better part of a decade, he was able to throw for 204 touchdowns compared to 118 interceptions, 31,594 yards, and has shown time after time that he can be a good NFL quarterback when put in the proper situation. Unfortunately, the proper situation didn't come too often in Cincinnati, and now a regime change at head coach has the Bengals changing plans at quarterback in 2020.

For the Patriots, they seemingly have their eyes pegged on 2019 fourth-round pick Jarrett Stidham being their starting quarterback next season. If that fails, then they have a security net - i.e. Brian Hoyer - who has plenty of experience in New England's system, but doesn't bring a very high ceiling of play along with that experience.

While bringing in another talented veteran like Dalton would make sense for the Patriots if they wanted to spark a quarterback competition this summer in New England, there's been nothing done up until this point of the offseason that suggests that's what they would like to do. The Patriots are all-in on Jarrett Stidham, which is why signing Andy Dalton wouldn't make sense.