Would trading for A.J. McCarron make sense for the Broncos?
By Tylor Walden
With the quarterback situation still in the dark for the Denver Broncos, would they consider talking to the Cincinnati Bengals about backup quarterback A.J. McCarron?
For the Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos, (that is still so fun to say) their quarterback situation is still up in the air. In a span of 72 hours the team lost Peyton Manning to retirement and Brock Osweiler to the Houston Texans via free agency.
The Broncos did complete a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for quarterback Mark Sanchez. He is believed to be an option for the team. While his career has been highlighted by some odd moments, he could in fact be the quarterback that could lead the Broncos to a win.
Here at Predominantly Orange, we have looked at the possibilities at quarterback. We’ve talked about Colin Kaepernick, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Robert Griffin III. We’ve even talked about prospects in this year’s draft.
However, one quarterback that has gotten a lot of attention as of lately is another backup. Cinicinnati Bengals’ quarterback A.J. McCarron.
Broncos fans are familiar with him from the Week 16 game in Denver. The battle between backups Osweiler and McCarron was a solid game. And McCarron held his own against a tough Broncos defense.
His only flaw was the botched snap that ended the game and secured a playoff birth for the Broncos. During his brief stint as the starting quarterback, he was pretty solid, throwing for 854 yards and six touchdowns.
So, does it make sense for the Denver Broncos to trade for the Bengals quarterback? I could understand how it could since the current quarterback Andy Dalton is the face of the franchise in regards to the quarterback position.
Dalton is 28 years old, so he is in the beginning of entering his prime years. I am uncertain if McCarron would be willing to wait nearly his entire career backing up Dalton. So, the trade for him would make sense.
The only question is value. The Bengals have stated that the Broncos second round draft pick would be the price for McCarron. Would Elway consider going that high for a quarterback who has only started five games? Something tells me he would not take that.
Next: Is Ryan Clady on the trading block?
Maybe with some more experience on the field, I would say yes. I have seen countless quarterbacks who were backups and took deals while having limited to no game action in a regular season game. And it was not pretty at all.
Who knows? Maybe McCarron is different. Coaches have done a solid job prepping backup quarterbacks as of recently. But for me, value and inexperience would concern me just a bit.
Do you think the Broncos should try to trade for McCarron? Leave your answers in the comments below. I want to know what the fans of Broncos Country thinks.