He is the most experienced of Buffalo’s 3 QBs on the roster.
By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills will likely have three quarterbacks on their roster in 2018 after only employing two full-time QBs in 2017.
Two of the three, rookie Josh Allen and second-year player Nathan Peterman, will likely have a little bit of room for error if thrust into a starting position.
The third and most experienced of the bunch, AJ McCarron, will not have much room for error. On March 14, McCarron signed a two-year deal with the Bills.
Buffalo waited… and waited… and waited… when free agency opened before signing McCarron. It’s a short-term deal and has “prove-it” written all over it from a team and league perspective.
With that logic in mind, Bleacher Report tabbed nine NFL quarterbacks who they believe will enter “prove-it” years in 2018. Among them is McCarron.
Gary Davenport from B/R also guessed which of the bunch he believes will make it or break it in their prove-it season. McCarron will have to prove Davenport wrong as the Bills QB was selected as someone who will “break.”
Here’s what Davenport wrote on McCarron:
McCarron’s Stakes: Status as a Viable NFL Starter
AJ McCarron isn’t necessarily young. He’ll turn 28 at the beginning of the 2018 season—his fifth in the NFL.
The pressure’s on him, though, and he’s still inexperienced. As Jason La Canfora reported for CBSSports.com, this may be McCarron’s last chance to become a starting NFL quarterback, even though the long-term conditions aren’t favorable:
“This might be McCarron’s only shot at being a starter, and he does [have challenges with] three veteran offensive linemen gone and few skill players in the pass game he can count on with a team that is very much rebuilding. Those heady days when Hue Jackson was trying to trade for him in Cleveland seem like an eternity ago, and after a far more established and successful quarterback (Tyrod Taylor) was benched quickly in Buffalo a year ago on a team that would still eventually reach the playoffs.”
It gets worse. After the Bills signed McCarron to a modest two-year, $10 million deal in March, Buffalo moved up in the first round of the 2018 draft to select Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen. The Bills also still have second-year pro Nathan Peterman, who outplayed McCarron in minicamp, per 104.5’s Benjamin Allbright.
Granted, Peterman’s familiarity with Buffalo’s offense should afford him an early leg up. But it goes to show there’s zero guarantee McCarron will even win the starting job in Buffalo.
If he does, it will be on the shortest of leashes—with a pair of younger quarterbacks (one of whom is the franchise’s future at the position) nipping at his heels. Playing behind a retooled offensive line. With a group of skill-position talent that includes tailback LeSean McCoy and…not much else.
Maybe leaving Cincinnati wasn’t such a hot idea after all.
Verdict: Break
While a tough pill to swallow, the strongest supporters of McCarron will likely agree with the analysis on him.
After failing to beat out Andy Dalton – a middle-of-the-pack starting QB in the NFL – with the Bengals, McCarron’s path to starting is finally clear with Buffalo.
If McCarron is a starting-caliber quarterback, he likely won’t find an easier path with a rookie and second-year player in the way. Still, as Davenport’s report references, McCarron didn’t exactly blow away the competition at minicamp, so he still might have to earn the job in training camp.
From there, McCarron will be tested immediately if named the opening day starter. Buffalo has the Ravens, Chargers, Vikings, and Packers in its first four games to start the season, a tough test for the Bills, and potentially, McCarron.