A.J. McCarron Wanted The Opportunity To Start For Browns

Bengals backup QB A.J. McCarron said during an interview with WNSP that he wanted the “opportunity” to start for the Browns this past season before the trade ultimately got botched at the last minute.

“As a competitor, I wanted that opportunity, just to be able to showcase and help a team win ball games,” McCarron said on WNSP, via AL.com. “I think I would have had some success playing for Hue. I would have loved the opportunity to go up there and get them a win, more than one win. As a competitor, that’s all you can ask for.”

As for what happened that prevented the trade between the Bengals and Browns from being official, McCarron says it was an “odd deal.”

“It was an odd deal,” McCarron said. “I got a text from my agent at 3:34 saying ‘hey, there’s a possible trade going down. Stay by your phone. I’ll let you know.’ I got another call from him right at 4 saying ‘from what I know, it’s a done deal. I’ll call you back in a minute and let you know.’ The next call I got was at 4:03 and he’s ‘hey, the trade didn’t go through. They didn’t get the paperwork in on time.’ Everybody has a story. I’m sure Cleveland has their own story, Cincy has their own story. But it’s just one of those things, when you think you’ve seen everything, you’re shown a little bit more. I think the only people who truly know what happened were the ones leading the whole situation on both sides.”

McCarron is waiting to hear if he’ll win his grievance against the Bengals, which will determine whether he is an unrestricted or restricted free agent after this season.

This is shaping up to be a big ruling for the Bengals, it’s possible that McCarron could end up departing for a market-value contract next March if it’s determined that he qualifies as an unrestricted free agent.

Otherwise, the Bengals would likely place a first-round restricted tender on McCarron, and keep him in Cincinnati for the 2018 season.

All of this stems from the Bengals’ decision to place McCarron on the non-football injury list (NFI) at the start of training camp due to a shoulder issue during his rookie year. This prevented McCarron from accruing a season and is why he would only qualify as a restricted free agent as things stand right now.

McCarron contends that he was healthy enough to come off the NFI list during training camp, but Cincinnati didn’t add him to their active roster until it was too late.

McCarron, 27, 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 2017, McCarron appeared in three games for the Bengals and completed 7 of 14 passes for 66 yards to go along with no touchdowns or interceptions.

We’ll have more regarding McCarron as the news is available.