Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin told reporters at the Combine on Wednesday (per Geoff Hobson) that they will “listen” to trade offers for backup QB A.J. McCarron.
However, Tobin added that McCarron has a lot of value to them and they’re not looking to “diminish” their team by trading their backup quarterback.
“If somebody wants to call & talk to us, call and talk to us, but they’re going to find out we value (him),” Tobin said, per Ian Rapoport.
Rapoport added that they’re unlikely to trade McCarron within the AFC North, which all but rules out the possibility of him being reunited with Hue Jackson.
One interesting note regarding McCarron that impacts his value is the fact that he will be a restricted free agent after the 2017 and not an unrestricted free agent.
McCarron qualifies as a restricted free agent next year because he spent most of his rookie season on the non-football injury list.
McCarron, 26, is a former fifth-round pick of the Bengals back in 2014. He’ll be entering the final year of his four-year, $2,401,652 contract and stands to make a base salary of $690,000 for the 2017 season.
In 2015, McCarron appeared in seven games for the Bengals and completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 854 yards to go along with six touchdowns and two interceptions.
We’ll have more regarding McCarron’s future as the news is available.
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