Andy Dalton

Dalton was a Carolina curiosity last season and he is less than that now. He sat behind Jalen Hurts all of 2025, never took a target, never touched the ball inside the ten, and he carried a second-string tag into a Philadelphia depth chart that has Hurts first, Tanner McKee third, Cole Payton fourth. One appearance through five weeks of 2026, -2 points in it. He did not play in weeks 1, 2, 4 and 5 of 2026, four misses in all, and the totals line shows nothing in any column: 0 pass yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 touches.

The decline is real and it is not just the role. He went from 9.83 points a game in 2024 to 2.38 in 2025, and his yards per touch went from 3.1 to -0.4. He cleared 15 points in 0 of his 4 played weeks last season, and the best of them was 6.32 points in week 4 of 2025. This offense throws on 54% of situation-neutral plays, and it funnels the ball to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith on 54% of the targets between them, so even a spot start would come in an offense with nothing for a third-string 39-year-old to do. At 38.9 on opening day, in year 16, the ceiling here is a spot start if Hurts ever misses time. That scenario was never worth planning around, and our 23-point preseason projection over 4 expected games tells you we agreed even then.

No injury designation, no headlines, no path. This is a name you remember from 2011 and little else. We would rather roster a running back with a real backup-to-starter chance than hold him, and there is no week on the schedule, including his bye in week 10 of 2026, where we would want him started.