It seems like these five teams all had interest in Dallas Cowboys quarterback Andy Dalton

By now, we have all likely had several debates about Andy Dalton and his standing with the Dallas Cowboys. It was indeed a bit surprising that the Cowboys landed themselves such a quality quarterback in Andy Dalton as their primary reserve. There are people that believe Dalton could be a starter in the NFL, but given the current landscape of the league, there aren’t exactly a lot of number one spots available. Most teams generally have some plan in place whether it is an established starter or promising young prospect.

Was there just no interest in Dalton then? Is that how he ended up with the Cowboys? People have speculated that it had a lot to do with him wanting to be near home, he played at TCU, but was it really that simple?

There were at least five other teams interested in Andy Dalton

In wondering who was interested in Andy Dalton we can certainly throw out different names. Yahoo’s Charles Robinson discussed Dalton signing with the Cowboys on the latest episode of the Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast and answered the question. There were in fact five teams in total besides the Cowboys.

“There was a lot of interest in him. And before we even got to the release point. When I was at the combine, I had a couple of people, when I was shaping up the quarterback market and I was talking to some different people. I got into a conversation about Indianapolis. And they told me, they said, ‘hey, you know, there’s interest in Philip Rivers.’ But guess what they were actually having a conversation in their building about maybe trading for Andy Dalton. Like offering something and seeing if Cincinnati will bite, maybe if the Rivers situation doesn’t work out. Okay the Colts. That’s one.”

“You had the Bears... who I think would have traded for Andy Dalton had they not acquired Nick Foles. Like I think Andy Dalton was their guy. And then you had the Jets, absolutely came after him. The Jaguars I think were upset. I think the Jaguars were pissed that they didn’t land him. Like I think they really thought they were going to land him. And the Patriots. The Patriots made a call. I think what happened with the Patriots was, they don’t have any money. Patriots have no money. They’re up against it. They have to maneuver just to get their entire draft class signed. There’s more dead money there for New England than you think.”

Teams like the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars make sense despite the fact that they literally coordinated a trade with each other to send Nick Foles from the latter to the former. It is definitely interesting to note that the Indianapolis Colts were in on Dalton before ultimately landing veteran Philip Rivers in free agency.

Obviously the New England Patriots are living life without Tom Brady for the first time in forever and people have tried to put multiple quarterbacks in his place, but the team seems committed to Jarrett Stidham. The New York Jets have Sam Darnold entering his third year so maybe they viewed Dalton as a backup as well, and if that were the case then given the proximity to home and what not it makes sense why he chose the Cowboys.