As Andy Dalton arrives in New Orleans after 11 NFL seasons, all of which featured games as a starting quarterback, he brings two key things along with him.
Experience … and perspective.
Dalton knows what he was signed in New Orleans to do, and it won’t be be to compete with Jameis Winston, who was re-signed this offseason to be the Saints’ starter. It’ll be to assist in whatever way he can, and play if it’s necessary.
“This is Jameis’ thing and I’m here to help him out in any way that I can,” Dalton said. "I’m excited to work with him, excited to be in the same room and see everything I can do to help him out to make him the best player that he can be.”
In what he described as a “whirlwind” offseason, his courtship with the Saints only lasted about a week. He doesn’t have any real ties to the Saints organization, though he’s worked previously with newly hired offensive assistant Bob Bicknell, and he was teammates with former Saints star TE Jimmy Graham.
“He always spoke really highly of New Orleans and his time here,” Dalton said.
Still, it’s less a reality check, and more just the reality for Dalton, who will be playing with his fourth team in the past 4 seasons. He came into the league with the Bengals in 2011, and led multiple playoff runs before departing after nine seasons. He was a member of the Cowboys a year later, and started nine games following a severe injury to starter Dak Prescott. In 2021 he joined the Chicago Bears, and started six games before he was hurt and ultimately surpassed on the depth chart by first-round rookie Justin Fields.
Dalton has no allusions of starting for the Saints barring any more injury woes. But at this point in his career and at 34 years old, he knows what he’s looking for out of his NFL experience.
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“You want to be part of a good organization and a good team, and New Orleans checks both of those boxes,” he said.
Whether it's bringing up the right questions in meetings, running scout teams, completing as many balls as possible in practice, Dalton is ready and willing to do it. He loves the game of football and wants to continue doing that in whatever form it takes.
Still being a backup for the Saints the last several seasons has been the closest thing you can get to playing time for a quarterback. Going back to 2019, the established starter has missed at least four games in each of the past three seasons. Teddy Bridgewater started five of those games, Taysom Hill eight, Trevor Siemian four and Ian Book one.
Dalton and Siemian are essentially trading locker rooms, with the former Saints backup signing with the Bears this offseason. And while the Saints will hope they rely on Dalton more for his brain than his arm, that arm has done some impressive things during more than a decade on NFL rosters. The former TCU standout has completed 3,122 passes for 35,279 yards and 226 touchdowns in his career, and has a career record of 77-69-2. He’s also started four playoff games, all four of which ended in defeat.
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"I think just kind of how it’s been and where I’m at, I’m here to help and serve and do everything I can just to help the team and help the quarterback room and to make this the best offense we can be,” he said.
"Whatever role that is, I’m here for it.”
Signing Dalton for 1 year and $3 million guaranteed was one of just a few moves thus far in a subdued offseason for the Saints that has seen more significant departures than additions. The team lost both starting safeties in Malcolm Jenkins to retirement and Marcus Williams to the Baltimore Ravens. Mainstay LT Terron Armstead signed with the Miami Dolphins. The Saints have signed safety Marcus Make, DE/DT Kentavius Street and safety Daniel Sorenson, though it’s likely there are more moves left to be made, particularly at safety and WR.