Alabama Football: Former Tide QB AJ McCarron still not free

Former Alabama football quarterback AJ McCarron dodged a bullet by not being traded to the Cleveland Browns, but what will the Cincinnati Bengals do now?

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About a month ago, BamaHammer.com released an article that suggested that AJ McCarron’s professional football career was being held back by the Bengals. With the latest news coming from sources in the National Football League regarding the non-trade with the Browns, the indecisiveness of football operations may not only reside in Cleveland.

Mark Inabinett of AL.com reported that the bungled trade attempt “took on another layer on Thursday when Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reported even if the Browns had gotten their documentation to the NFL office before the trade deadline, the deal couldn’t have gone through.” The trade would have seen McCarron go to the Browns for a second and third round pick in the 2018 NFL draft, but “when the Browns got their copy of the Bengals’ documentation one minute before the deadline, they noticed the terms and conditions of the trade weren’t exactly the same as what was on their documentation — a discrepancy that would have caused the NFL to reject the deal and leaving the teams with no time to fix the problem.”

Fine. Discrepancies happen all the time in professional sports. Many stories have been covered in all major professional sports leagues of issues like this happening. However, Inabinett’s next piece of reporting asks more questions than it does answer anything, which seems fairly troubling for many Alabama football and, especially, McCarron supporters.

During an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said that he was “relieved” that the trade did not go through: “Having AJ here, we’re blessed […] He’s such a good, big part of the football team, a big part of just the mentorship of the young players and the guys on offense when they’re not in practice, him explaining to the young receivers. He just does a great job.”

Does that sound sweet to you? Sounds more like that ulcer, previously mentioned, has taken full effect for others in the Crimson Tide community. McCarron mentors the young players? That’s fine, but why is that so important to Lewis? Isn’t their starting QB Andy Dalton doing that? Or, is he too busy throwing interceptions or staring down receivers for incomplete passes?

The Bengals bungled the trade, but that just seems like par for the course with this team. Instead of making a quarterback change a month ago, they fired their offensive coordinator and brought in a new one who, supposedly, could fix Dalton’s problems like a QB Whisperer. At the time, Dalton completed just 54.5% of his passes with no touchdowns and four interceptions. Then, Dalton threw two touchdowns against a weakened Green Bay Packers defense and four touchdowns against the winless Browns. All of a sudden, Dalton was being heralded again as a great quarterback.

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That didn’t last long. The following week, Dalton completed just 61% of his passes for a touchdown and two interceptions against the Buffalo Bills at home in Cincinnati. Then, the Bengals went to Pittsburgh where the Steelers allowed Dalton to earn only 140 yards and two touchdowns, while also intercepting the ball twice. Recently, the lowly Indianapolis Colts were able to force Dalton into completing just 58.6% of his passes.

Dalton, with the weapons at his disposal and the great arm that he has, could only earn that percentage and a one-point victory over the Colts. Indianapolis is second to dead last in the NFL on defense in terms of yards given up per game (406.8) and yards given up per play (6.3). Dalton earned 243 yards through the air. Total net yards, after penalties and other issues, the Bengals only earned 218 yards passing and 58 yards rushing.

Does that sound like QB leadership to you?

McCarron’s sample-size of work in the NFL is too small to make a definitive answer as to his ability. Yet, as said a month ago, “nobody needs to say that McCarron will be the Bengals’ saviour, but Alabama football fans know first-hand what he can do for a team.” Apparently, the Bengals’ head coach feels the same way. Sort of.

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#FreeAJ is still called for. Either the Bengals need to play him or trade McCarron in the offseason. They have him mentoring the young players, as a leader without a team to lead on the field. The team itself seems to be leaderless, as Dalton continues to struggle to reach his potential. All that Alabama fans of McCarron can do is be thankful that he did not get traded to a Browns team that cannot protect its quarterback to save their lives. The Browns seem to be the organization where QB careers go to die. However, the Bengals do not look to be that much different, sitting just ahead of Cleveland in the standings.

All that the non-trade has done is add fuel to the fire that the Bengals cannot run their team properly, leaving McCarron, once again, in limbo.

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