Should Bills Bring Back XFL MVP AJ McCarron as Josh Allen Backup?
In the spring of 2018, the Buffalo Bills brought in one of the most accomplished names on the collegiate circuit to play quarterback. His arrival caused waves and controversy throughout the football landscape, but he has since gone on to lead a blue gridiron team to glory and appease a raucous fanbase eager for any kind of pigskin success.
We do, of course, refer to A.J. McCarron, who came to the Bills as a free agent in 2018.
McCarron was, technically speaking, the first thrower to bear the mantle of "Buffalo Bills starting quarterback" during the 2018-19 season, getting the opening nod in each of the first two preseason games over the summer. Any regular season impact he was trying to make was derailed by a shoulder injury that kept him out of the third contest entirely and more or less paved the way for Josh Allen to land a stranglehold on the job. It's one that shows no signs of loosening as Allen has become the face of the rejuvenated Bills franchise that seems to carry yearly Super Bowl aspirations.
As Buffalo embarks on year six of the Allen era ... could things come full circle?
While McCarron is hardly a threat to Allen's starting status ... few in the NFL are ... he has done well for himself despite a premature end to his Western New York tenure (traded to the Oakland Raiders shortly before the campaign kicked off). Best-known for his championship endeavors at Alabama, McCarron remained an NFL backup for three more seasons between Houston and Atlanta after his departure from Buffalo.
More recently, he has found further success in the third attempt at XFL football, where was recently named the league's Most Valuable Player. McCarron lived up to the hype that surrounded his status as one of the spring league's more recognizable names, ranking in the XFL's top three in passing yardage, completion rate, passer rating, and scoring passes (leading the league in the latter three) while repping the St. Louis BattleHawks. While St. Louis (7-3) missed out on the XFL postseason due to divisional caveats, they were supported by one of the most plentiful fanbases in spring football history, their antics amply enjoyed by Gateway City crowds still jaded by the Los Angeles Rams' return to Southern California.
With the XFL season wrapping up this weekend, players from the six eliminated squads have begun accepting invites to NFL camps. It provides a perfect opportunity for the Bills to re-explore their backup quarterback situation, which could also take a look at spring football mainstay Jordan Ta'amu (whose DC Defenders face the Arlington Renegades in Saturday's title game in San Antonio).
Buffalo has been very fortunate to appreciate Allen's durability, but they don't need to look far to realize that it can be taken away in the blink of an eye: sure, the Miami Dolphins made the playoffs last season but their trek was partly kept afloat by the relief efforts of Teddy Bridgewater and Skylar Thompson when Tua Tagovailoa was injured. It's perhaps a downright miracle that Allen hasn't missed a game due to injury since his freshman year, especially considering his mobile propensities, even if the Bills have dealt with a few minor scares over the past few seasons (including a tenuous stretch last fall).
The Bills' current passing picture beyond Allen consists of the unrelated Kyle Allen (signer of a one-year deal to make Buffalo his fourth team in six seasons) and incumbent backup Matt Barkley. If the Bills need to turn to a backup, they benefit well from someone who not only has a few snaps in Sean McDermott's system but knows how to win high-profile football games. The current couple has been serviceable back-ups but have never truly seen the type of high-profile action that the Bills have grown accustomed to working with in recent years.
McCarron, on the other hand, previously came up big for the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2015 season, helping them clinch the AFC North title when starter Andy Dalton went down in December. He even got a game of postseason experience out of it, putting together a respectable performance in an 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers best-known for a collapse induced by a Jeremy Hill fumble and Vontaze Burfict's late hit on Antonio Brown.
While McCarron was perhaps always destined to step aside for Allen, he did manage to leave Western New York football die-hards a parting gift before he was shipped out west: despite posting a 0.0 passer rating through the first three periods of the summer closer in Chicago, McCarron rewarded any Bills fan nutty enough to stick around for the final stages of a last preseason game with a come back from 27-3 down in the fourth quarter.
"He's a winner," then-receiver Ray-Ray McCloud told the team's official website at the time. "(It's great) having a quarterback like that you just go fight for him. That's what the guys on offense did and we ended up winning."
McCarron's chances of being an everyday starter likely linger on the spring level. But when the NFL calls undoubtedly reach him, the Bills should almost certainly be among the dialers.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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