If he weren't in Cincy he would have never started in the league for 9 years. It was a really good situation for him as far as that is concerned. He made $83M in Cincinnati. And he had a very good team around him the first half of his career.
He is a great dude but I honestly don't see how anyone could watch him play and say he was anything more than a very average NFL quarterback, and tbh a below-average starting NFL quarterback for the vast majority of his career.
Yeah I mean just looking at his QB contemporaries from the 2011 draft, you could argue he was the best pick in terms of longevity and consistency. Being a starter for 9 years is not an easy feat, and he can have another 5 years of being a capable backup if he wants too and probably makes more money than every other guy he was drafted with.
Pick 1 - Cam Newton - had a higher ceiling than Dalton, but is also injury plagued and currently unsigned
Pick 8 - Jake Locker - Bust, was out of the league in 3 years
Pick 10- Blaine Gabbert - couple years as an unsuccessful starter, been a journeyman backup ever since
Pick 12 - Christian Ponder - Bust, unsuccessful starter, was out of the league in a couple years.
Pick 35- Dalton - 9 year starter, 2 years as a backup.
Pick 36 - Kaepernick - not touching this one, but he was out of the league by 2017. he did have a really good 2-3 year run though
Pick 74- Ryan Mallet - Journeyman backup
TJ Yates, Nathan Enderle, Ricky Stanzi - forgettable and i'm too lazy to even google who these guys are.
Pick 180 - Tyrod Taylor - 10 year run as the 32nd best QB in the league. journeyman starter/backup, nice career for a 6th round pick
pick 208 - Greg McElroy - pretty sure he's made more money working for ESPN than from the NFL