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With Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback AJ McCarron winning his grievance last week, he is all set to become a free agent next month. With questions at the quarterback position for the Buffalo Bills, many fans are hoping the team goes after anybody to replace current QB Tyrod Taylor.
I understand the frustration with Taylor. I really do. He misses plenty of open receivers, doesn’t go through all of his reads, takes too many sacks, and all in all is pretty average on the spectrum of NFL quarterbacks.
If McCarron were to come to the Bills, it would basically be the same way Taylor did three years ago. Career backup behind a “franchise” guy getting a shot to compete for the starting job. McCarron is an intriguing prospect. He won three national championships, two as a starter at Alabama. He has only started four NFL games, but has just as many playoff starts as Taylor; McCarron posted 188 yards, 56% completions with one touchdown, one interception, and a fumble against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2015.
That being said, McCarron ended up losing his playoff game as well and could never quite show enough to dethrone the patron saint Andy Dalton as the starting QB in Cincinnati. Personally, I don’t think McCarron is an upgrade at all over Taylor. He struggled mightily against quality opponents when given an opportunity. The only reason the Bengals had a chance in the 2015 playoff game was because Steelers QB Ben Rothlisberger was injured late in the 3rd quarter.
As any free agent QB will this offseason, McCarron is going to pull big money because of the simple fact he’s not a rookie and he’s “promising” to some. Is it really worth it for Buffalo to hand out a lot of money for an unproven potential disaster when they could draft a rookie and keep Tyrod for one more year.
Keeping Tyrod is the safe play. It’s highly doubtful he takes a massive leap forward in 201. But wouldn’t you rather have another true chance to make the playoffs. With McCarron at the helm, the Bills might get that. But they could also go 4-12 and kill the confidence of a team, coach and GM on the rise.