Andy Dalton came into the NFL along with Julio Jones and the rest of the legendary 2011 draft class. At this point, his career is winding down, but Dalton's extensive experience still makes him a commodity for teams that need quarterback depth.
The Atlanta Falcons are one of them, having no viable backups behind starter Michael Penix Jr. The Philadelphia Eagles are another after losing Jalen Hurts to a scary medical situation - and they wanted Dalton back but he wound up choosing Atlanta, instead.
Earlier this week Dalton was asked why. Here's what he had to say about his decision, per The Athletic.
"You know, I felt like this was just a good opportunity for me, you know. I think how everything kind of played out in Philly. It was a tough decision, one that I spent a ton of time with my wife talking about what we wanted to do and spent a tone of time in prayer, trying to feel where the Lord was leading us. We felt like this was going to be a good place. There's a ton of potential here, A ton of just really good guys. And so I felt like if I had a chance to come down here, and bring some of my experience and try to help out in any way I can, I felt like it'd be a good opportunity."
If you don't speak Quarterback, this roughly translates to: the Falcons said that I might have a chance to play, but the Eagles did not.
To make room for Dalton on the 53-man roster Atlanta released Cooper Rush, who bombed in the first two games of the season while Penix was still recovering and Tua Tagovailoa was dealing with an oblique strain.
While he's technically the third option on the depth chart right now, Dalton likely would not have signed if he didn't have a good chance of replacing Tagovailoa at the primary backup spot.
Based on what we saw from Dalton in his one start last season for the Carolina Panthers against the Buffalo Bills (a 31-point loss), he doesn't have much left in the tank. However, it would be pretty difficult for him to disappoint any more than Tagovailoa has so far for Atlanta.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Andy Dalton comments on why he chose the Falcons