AJ a free agent: Bills announce two-year deal for quarterback A.J. McCarron

So did that injury happen at Alabama or in Cincy...

You can bet the Bengals will appeal.

And now Cincy gets nothing for him.

According to AJ, it was an injury he suffered pre-draft but that he was healed up by mid season, meaning he could be on the active roster for enough games that it would count as a whole season. The Bengals chose to not put him on the active roster so they could try and stick him with this extra year.
 
Isn't it crazy how easy a franchise can completely fall to pieces?

Yes... and no, birdman! That SB season was one of the biggest freak titles ever. That entire year they snuck out so many close wins with freak plays and defensive scores. Obviously the D was amazing... But that offense was atrocious. Peyton was a shadow of himself.

Elway was trying to acquire AJ during last season too... I think he really likes him. Which is a first considering he never pursues Tider's. I'd love to see AJ get his shot in Denver but that OL absolutely has to be addressed. I think he'd be perfect for Jville.. But the way Bortles played against New England, they may want to see more.
 
Bortles played well down the stretch. J'ville will sign him but I would only sign him for 2 years and see. If they do long term I think it will bite them in the butt.


Don't you think both Bortles and Nike Foles are spread QBs? Is the spread formations with these RPOs going to finally make an imprint on the NFL beyond the world champs? Watch this stuff take off. It intriguing to me to watch these type of QBs going back to what they are built for. The moment they plugged Foles back into that offense completely he was unstoppable. Coach Saban said there is no answer to this stuff. The Patriots with the best coach in the game didn't come close to slowing down a second string QB. Bortles might be built for the new wave spread.
 
Yes... and no, birdman! That SB season was one of the biggest freak titles ever. That entire year they snuck out so many close wins with freak plays and defensive scores. Obviously the D was amazing... But that offense was atrocious. Peyton was a shadow of himself.

Elway was trying to acquire AJ during last season too... I think he really likes him. Which is a first considering he never pursues Tider's. I'd love to see AJ get his shot in Denver but that OL absolutely has to be addressed. I think he'd be perfect for Jville.. But the way Bortles played against New England, they may want to see more.

You're 100% right but Peyton's degeneration that year is part of what I'm talking about. This guy goes from NFL MVP in his second year with Denver and MVP candidate his third year to suddenly he's playing like the second coming of Trent Dilfer in his final year. It was nuts. Obviously the neck had something to do with it but you cant blame the bad decisions he was making with WHERE he threw the football on the neck. He was throwing passes into triple coverage that year. It was super weird.

Yeah, Denver has to fix the OL and get a dependable running back but they have a ton of weapons for the passing game. If they bring in AJ it will give them a chance to concentrate on the line and a running back in the draft instead of wasting a first or second round pick on a QB. And I agree that Bortles probably played himself into at least another year.

Don't you think both Bortles and Nike Foles are spread QBs? Is the spread formations with these RPOs going to finally make an imprint on the NFL beyond the world champs? Watch this stuff take off. It intriguing to me to watch these type of QBs going back to what they are built for. The moment they plugged Foles back into that offense completely he was unstoppable. Coach Saban said there is no answer to this stuff. The Patriots with the best coach in the game didn't come close to slowing down a second string QB. Bortles might be built for the new wave spread.

Foles is 100% perfect for that type of offense, that's why he tore it up in Chip Kelly's offense. Bortles is a probably best suited for it, too. If more teams start adopted the hybrid spread with the RPOs its going to open the door for a lot more QBs. DeShaun Watson didnt even get a ton of RPOs when he was playing and he was still obliterating defenses until he got hurt.
 
Hate it for him. Stuck in a bad situation in Cincy and likely headed to another bad situation in-state .. But, no matter where he goes, he is gonna get paid probably more than he deserves (which is not a knock on AJ, it's a knock on the NFL's propensity to overpay QBs), so that's good news.
 
Don't you think both Bortles and Nike Foles are spread QBs? Is the spread formations with these RPOs going to finally make an imprint on the NFL beyond the world champs? Watch this stuff take off. It intriguing to me to watch these type of QBs going back to what they are built for. The moment they plugged Foles back into that offense completely he was unstoppable. Coach Saban said there is no answer to this stuff. The Patriots with the best coach in the game didn't come close to slowing down a second string QB. Bortles might be built for the new wave spread.
Yep Blake and Nick are those RPO guys. The Falcons slowed it down. To me is like the option, any variation of the option. You have defensive responsibilities and you have to make sure you do those without fail. The falcons d is fast and play zone well. If, you can get pressure up the middle, that will slow it down also.
 
Foles is 100% perfect for that type of offense, that's why he tore it up in Chip Kelly's offense. Bortles is a probably best suited for it, too. If more teams start adopted the hybrid spread with the RPOs its going to open the door for a lot more QBs. DeShaun Watson didnt even get a ton of RPOs when he was playing and he was still obliterating defenses until he got hurt.

I don't understand why more is not made of what just happened. Obviously, the NFL version is less QB run dominant but these RPO principles are driving NFL defenses crazy. Chip Kelly must have been selling the wrong flavor of this stuff.
 
Hate it for him. Stuck in a bad situation in Cincy and likely headed to another bad situation in-state .. But, no matter where he goes, he is gonna get paid probably more than he deserves (which is not a knock on AJ, it's a knock on the NFL's propensity to overpay QBs), so that's good news.


I truly hope it's not Cleveland. That said, he will take some hits to his body and reputation before he gets out of that cesspool. How can they overpay him?
 
I don't understand why more is not made of what just happened. Obviously, the NFL version is less QB run dominant but these RPO principles are driving NFL defenses crazy. Chip Kelly must have been selling the wrong flavor of this stuff.

Kelly was his own worst enemy. You remember his first two years, Philly was putting up video game numbers and then he convinced the team to give him control over personell as the GM and he made some of the most bonehead moves possible. Got rid of Maclin and Desean Jackson, traded Foles for Sam Bradford and traded LaSean McCoy away and signed Demarco Murray. Neither Bradford or Murray fit that offense AT ALL and you would think Kelly would be the guy that would know that more than anyone else.
 
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron will become an unrestricted free agent on March 14, but the NFL doesn't agree with the decision that allows him to.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron will become an unrestricted free agent on March 14, but the NFL doesn't agree with the decision that allows him to.

An independent arbitrator weighed the evidence presented in McCarron's grievance against the Bengals, as allowed by the league's collective bargaining agreement with its players' union, and he decided McCarron had made his case.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told NBC Sports Radio's "Pro Football Talk" that the league thought the Bengals handling of McCarron had been correct and that the NFL Management Council had represented the team in the grievance.

Even though arbitrator Shyam Das ruled the Bengals to be in the wrong, the team won't be disciplined by the NFL.

At issue was the former Alabama All-American's rookie season. He spent almost all of it on the non-football injury list, reaching Cincinnati's active roster for only the final three games of the season.

A player must spend at least six weeks during the regular season on an NFL active roster for the season to be accrued, that is, for it to count toward his service time, which comes into play a variety of ways in the CBA, such as in minimum salaries and free-agency qualification.

The arbitrator ruled the Bengals had kept McCarron on NFI without a good medical reason, and by doing so, had prevented him from qualifying for an accrued season. The decision restored to McCarron the year of service time.

That was important because McCarron's four-year rookie contract runs out in March. Because he now has four accrued seasons, he will become an unrestricted free agent, able to sign with any team. If the arbitrator had ruled in the Bengals' favor, McCarron would have reached the end of his contract with three accrued seasons and qualified to be only a restricted free agent, which would allow Cincinnati to retain some input on what happened next in his career.

"Pro Football Talk" obtained a copy of Das' report on the grievance.
Cincinnati had placed McCarron on NFI before training camp started because of a shoulder issue. When the time came to reduce their preseason roster of 90 players to the regular-season limit of 53 in 2014, the Bengals again put the former St. Paul's standout on NFI.

Dr. Marc Galloway, the head team physician of the Bengals, told Das he approved keeping McCarron on NFI when the season started because he "did not think it was in (McCarron's) best long-term interest to play football in September." McCarron wasn't clear to participate in team practices until Nov. 19, 2014, and he didn't join the active roster until Dec. 9, 2014.

Galloway also told the arbitrator that McCarron didn't receive a medical examination before being placed on NFI for the start of the regular season and that the quarterback would have passed an exam had one been administered.

McCarron joined the Bengals as a fifth-round selection in the 2014 NFL Draft. Entering the 2014 season, Cincinnati had Andy Dalton as its starting quarterback and former Auburn standout Jason Campbell, a veteran of 79 NFL starts, as its backup.

Without the NFI designation, McCarron would have to have been placed on the active roster to open the 2014 season (forcing the Bengals to use three of their 53 roster spots for quarterbacks) or waived (leaving him vulnerable to being claimed by any other NFL team).

"It was just business," McCarron told the Bengals' official website. "They had to do what was best for them, and I had to do what was best for me. It was never anything personal. I loved the city, loved the fans, loved everything about it. It's an awesome place to play."


Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com
NFL doesn't think AJ McCarron should be an unrestricted free agent
 
of the teams above he better pray the broncos or the vikings, other than that his career will die a slow and painful death. With broncos of vikings he at least has a decent enough taem to compete.
 
of the teams above he better pray the broncos or the vikings, other than that his career will die a slow and painful death. With broncos of vikings he at least has a decent enough taem to compete.

No need to pray. He can sign wherever he wants to, it just depends on whether he is willing to take a little less to be with a team with a little more talent.
 
Kelly was his own worst enemy. You remember his first two years, Philly was putting up video game numbers and then he convinced the team to give him control over personell as the GM and he made some of the most bonehead moves possible. Got rid of Maclin and Desean Jackson, traded Foles for Sam Bradford and traded LaSean McCoy away and signed Demarco Murray. Neither Bradford or Murray fit that offense AT ALL and you would think Kelly would be the guy that would know that more than anyone else.

It's always fun when my team enters the conversation, even if the circumstances blew.
 
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