In a league typically without enough bad quarterbacks to go around, there’s an unprecedented abundance of plausibly talented options in 2018. Even with multiple starting-caliber rookies in the draft pool, the pre-free agency period has resulted in too many asses, not enough seats.
The primary seatless ass belongs to AJ McCarron. The former Bengals backup who won free agency via a grievance that challenged his non-football injury status as a rookie in 2014 has found no takers, forcing him to either take a backup job or wait.
The Bills provide a possible option for McCarron, but all signs point to Buffalo rocketing to the top of the draft and taking a quarterback. Thus, he’d be a short-term stop-gap, at best.
Beyond Buffalo, there’s currently no opportunity to get starting-caliber pay and a starting-caliber opportunity.
Of course, if McCarron would be willing to take a low-end deal, he could attract the attention of his former team. The Bengals, known to be notoriously careful with money, have Andy Dalton under contract at an average of $16 million per year, with $13.9 million due this year, $16.2 million owed in 2019, and $17.7 million for 2020.
What is they could get Dalton for the same, or less? The “or less” possibility could get the Bengals thinking about the potential wisdom of keeping the devil they know, and dumped the devil-haired starter whose play has regressed a bit in two straight non-playoff seasons in Cincinnati.