Peter King - Predicts Cards will sign A.J. McCarron

[az jam]

King published a post that predicts where each available NFL quarterback will land in the offseason. His pick for McCarron? The Arizona Cardinals.

Check out King’s analysis about McCarron below:

Arizona: A.J. McCarron. This would, of course, break Hue Jackson’s heart. But I just think the alternatives for McCarron are these: Go to Cleveland, and risk the Browns drafting a quarterback high in the first round, and risk being in the same place he was in Cincinnati, behind Andy Dalton, for the next three or four years … or go to Arizona (or another spot that won’t draft a passer high) and be handed the starting job on a team with a playoff defense. Not a very tough choice in my mind. Of course, when you’re guessing, no choice is very hard. Also: I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arizona focus on Sam Bradford and pick a rookie in the first or second round to supplement him.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

Ugh.

 

[Stout]

 

[RON_IN_OC]

I'm warming up to this...The Cards can try to add impact players in 1st and 2nd round and then a QB in Round 3...the AJ essentially has 2-3 years to perform, with the rookie developing behind him.

 

[Cheesebeef]

If we spend a lot of money on McCarron and forgo... yet again... drafting a QB of the future, I might just give up until we get a new GM.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Now, THIS barfoji I agree with.

 

[GatorAZ]

You must be registered for see images

 

[HGC]

McCarron's a backup.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

McCarron's a backup.

Not
For
Long

 

[moklerman]

Bradford or McCarron? That's a bit of a tough question. I think Bradford clearly has the experience advantage and probably the talent advantage as well. But his injury risk is as high as it gets when discussing starting QB's. The unknown of McCarron is his biggest advantage AND disadvantage. Personally, I'd roll the dice on Bradford.

He's an established talent so there isn't any risk in that regard and I think the Cardinals are a playoff team with good QB play. With McCarron, you're basically taking on the same risk as a draft pick but at a higher cost. Maybe he's just as good as Bradford and maybe he stays healthy. That's a lot of maybes for a FA signing to take on. I can understand why Cardinals fans want to get their QBOTF but I don't think guys like Larry want to go through a learning curve and would rather make a last run(or two?).

If I'm the GM, I get Bradford and make a run in 2018. I doubt I could trade up high enough to get ANY QB that I wanted so I wait to see who falls or wait 'til next year where there may not be so much competition for the top QB's/have better draft position.

 

[Buckybird]

Let him start until Baker the touchdown Maker is ready to start for us

 

[HGC]

Not
For
Long

Sad but true.

 

[oaken1]

what a sad state of affairs. we the passionate fan base beat totally into submission. shell shocked so thoroughly we are prepared to accept nearly anybody...just to have a body.
Half of us willing to accept a guy like mccaron because he will be inexpensive, the other half willing to accept him because it means we wont trade up for a guy in the draft... LMAO.

a guy who has only started three games in his entire career...
a guy who last SEASON went 7 of 14 for 66 yards... his long was 27yds...which means his other 6 completions were for a whopping 39 yds
Four complete seasons in the NFL and the guy has 920 yds

I didnt like aj when he was in the draft...dont like him now either... He doesnt "Suck" per se... he is a poor mans alex smith... blindingly unspectacular..

signing aj wouldnt be the worst move we could make...say, if we signed him and still drafted a first round QB...that would be okay...use him as a place holder, force him to get more aggressive with his play if he wants to keep his job.

that is the biggest positive for aj I think... he wants out of cincy because he wants to play and he sees no future where he overtakes the red baron in cincy... he has something to prove and he knows it.... not a horrible idea to take advantage of that if the price is right.

if he doesnt think he is good enough to beat out any rookie we might draft,...then he is right.

sure... offer aj $8mil a year for three years with escalators for performance...then draft a guy in round one and let them battle it out.

 

[football karma]

King's stuff on the Cards kinda felt to me the most speculative of all of them. it was like he had no idea where to put McCarron but needed to finish the piece

 

[Cheesebeef]

what a sad state of affairs. we the passionate fan base beat totally into submission. shell shocked so thoroughly we are prepared to accept nearly anybody...just to have a body.
Half of us willing to accept a guy like mccaron because he will be inexpensive, the other half willing to accept him because it means we wont trade up for a guy in the draft... LMAO.

a guy who has only started three games in his entire career...
a guy who last SEASON went 7 of 14 for 66 yards... his long was 27yds...which means his other 6 completions were for a whopping 39 yds
Four complete seasons in the NFL and the guy has 920 yds

I didnt like aj when he was in the draft...dont like him now either... He doesnt "Suck" per se... he is a poor mans alex smith... blindingly unspectacular..

signing aj wouldnt be the worst move we could make...say, if we signed him and still drafted a first round QB...that would be okay...use him as a place holder, force him to get more aggressive with his play if he wants to keep his job.

that is the biggest positive for aj I think... he wants out of cincy because he wants to play and he sees no future where he overtakes the red baron in cincy... he has something to prove and he knows it.... not a horrible idea to take advantage of that if the price is right.

if he doesnt think he is good enough to beat out any rookie we might draft,...then he is right.

sure... offer aj $8mil a year for three years with escalators for performance...then draft a guy in round one and let them battle it out.

Poor man’s Alex Smith nails it on the head. Blegh.

 

[Jetstream Green]

That's my boy

 

[clif]

Peter King is out of touch. It’s not even worth discussing. I don’t even know why I even responded.

 

[GimmedaBall]

Throw him in the evaluation mix with the QBs coming out in this draft. Consider him a rookie with some NFL exposure and game experience.

Is he going to be better than the QB available at #15?

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I remember Mitch begging us to draft McCarron back in the day

 

[Buckybird]

I remember Mitch begging us to draft McCarron back in the day

I was on the same bandwagon after we didn’t draft Jimmy G

If we do get him I think he’s going to surprise a bunch of peeps here at how much better he is than the perception

 

[Mitch]

I remember Mitch begging us to draft McCarron back in the day

Good memory, Chris. I wanted McCarron in the 3rd round of the 2014 draft (we took Kareem Martin). Turns out we could have had him in the 4th round, where we took QB Logan Thomas instead.

I have always liked him. He's smart, plays within himself, throws with accuracy and touch and came up big in big games at Alabama. But, it's 5 years later and while A.J. has played well in his brief outings, how can any team declare him their QBOF and pay him close to $20M a year? If the Cardinals can sign him to a reasonable deal, I am all for it. But, we still have to draft a QB on Day 1 or 2, no matter what.

 

[Son of RedRage]

We have 22 million in cap space. We need to take what we can get.

 

[Stout]

We have 22 million in cap space. We need to take what we can get.

Absolutely not. You don't sign a QB just because he'll be cheaper. Someone said to sign him, wait until the 3rd to get another QB, and give AJM 2-3 years? Great! Let's ignore QBOF for another few years and punt on winning for that long, too!

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Peter King?

Same guy who would be SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED, if Carson Palmer retired ?

Same guy who, self-admittedly said, he doesn't watch west coast games ?

Yeah, take that with a grain of salt.

 

[overseascardfan]

Supposedly Bill Polian said it made sense too but it doesn’t. McCarron will get a Glennon type deal even though Glennon had more starting experience and numbers but Case Keenum has NFL teams think they can catch lightning in a bottle too. Goes to show how QB desperate the NFL is.