Ruling On Bengals QB A.J McCarron’s Free Agent Status Expected To Come In February

Jason La Canfora reports that the arbitration case to determine the free agent status of Bengals backup QB A.J McCarron will be resolved in February.

According to La Canfora, the NFLPA contends that McCarron should be an unrestricted free agent while the NFL is arguing that he should remain a restricted free agent.

Both sides have already presented their cases to the arbitrator and no further arguments or hearings are scheduled.

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.

According to Adam Schefter, 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 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 as the news is available.