NFL Free agency: Andy Dalton signs new contract

Veteran quarterback and longtime former Cincinnati Bengals starter Andy Dalton has signed with the Carolina Panthers on a two-year deal worth $10 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deal includes $8 million in guaranteed money and can grow to $17 million overall with incentives.

He moved within the NFC South, joining the Panthers after his stint with the New Orleans Saints.

The Red Rifle is still firing. Dalton, a former TCU star, began his career as a second-round pick with the Cincinnati Bengals and won the team’s starting job in his rookie season, where he led Cincy to a 9-7 record and made the playoffs while also earning All-Rookie and Pro Bowl honors all in just his first year.

Sure, Andy Dalton became a sort of joke as the most middle-of-the-road quarterback you could have, but he did make five straight playoff appearances to begin his career, all with the now-retired AJ Green by his side. The duo never could get over the hump and win a playoff game, and Dalton got injured late in 2015 during the franchise’s best season with him at the helm. He hasn’t made the playoffs since.

As his career in Cincinnati spiraled and eventually gave way to Joe Burrow, Dalton moved on and spent the last three years with Dallas, Chicago and then New Orleans. He was initially brought in as a backup but wound up starting more than half of the games each year.

More on the 2023 NFL offseason, free agency

The NFL 2023 calendar year is set to begin at 4 p.m. ET on March 15 when contracts running through 2022 will officially run out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams will have a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player, starting on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. ET and ending on March 7. Beginning March 13 through March 15 teams will be allowed a legal negotiation with players who are set to become unrestricted free agents.

In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 21 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets while April 26 marks the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets. 722 players are slated to become free agents in 2023.

More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents

Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount; however, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match that round pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.