Let’s Figure Out Who Offered A Second-Rounder For A.J. McCarron
An unidentified team reportedly offered the Bengals a second-round pick for backup quarterback A.J. McCarron this offseason, as Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com reported earlier this week. Cincinnati rejected the offer, as it apparently wants a first-rounder for McCarron, who will once again act as a reserve behind starter Andy Dalton in 2017.
McCarron, 26, doesn’t have much NFL experience, as he’s only made four total starts (all following a 2015 Dalton injury) during his three-year career. Although he posted a decent showing in those appearances, tossing seven touchdowns against two interceptions, the former fifth-round pick’s track record is admittedly limited. McCarron’s contract situation is also up in the air: while the Bengals reportedly believe he’ll be a restricted free agent in 2018 because he spent his rookie season on the non-football injury list, McCarron and his agent may have a different take. An arbitrator hearing and resolution likely won’t come until next season.
With those caveats in mind, let’s look at the possible candidates for who offered a second-round pick for McCarron:
Arizona Cardinals
Let’s start off this exercise with the one true wild card on this list, as the Cardinals already have their starting quarterback in another former Bengal, 37-year-old Carson Palmer. Given that Palmer hinted at retirement all offseason, it’s entirely feasible 2017 will be his final NFL season, and Arizona hasn’t established a plan for the future. Drew Stanton and Blaine Gabbert aren’t realistic options to take over under center if Palmer does hang up his cleats after the upcoming campaign, so it’s possible the Cardinals would have floated a Day 2 selection in order to land a long-term successor like McCarron. General manager Steve Keim hasn’t been afraid to trade draft picks in the past, although his other significant deal — sending a second-rounder to the Patriots for edge rusher Chandler Jones — was a win-now move. McCarron’s 2014 NFL.com draft profile noted his lack of a “big-time, vertical arm,” which would theoretically present a problem in a Bruce Arians offense.
Buffalo Bills
The Bills hemmed and hawed on whether to retain incumbent signal-caller Tyrod Taylor, and though it appeared as though he’d hit free agency, Taylor ultimately agreed to a short-term pact that will keep him Buffalo through the 2018 season. While McCarron would seemingly fit in new play-caller Rick Dennison‘s offense, the timeline of the Bills’ front office turnover makes it unlikely they were involved in McCarron trade discussions. Buffalo reached a new deal with Taylor just prior to the start of the 2017 league year in early March, and former general manager Doug Whaley was fired two months later. Targeting another quarterback just after working out a fresh pact with Taylor seems improbable, and Buffalo’s ownership wouldn’t have let a lame duck like Whaley make such a franchise-altering decision.
Chicago Bears
While the Bears were never linked to McCarron, they were interested in trading for another high-profile backup quarterback — the Patriots’ Jimmy Garoppolo. Rival clubs didn’t believe Chicago would be forced to part with its No. 3 overall pick in order to land Garoppolo, as a package of multiple second-round selections was thought to be enough to get a deal done. Clearly, that view was misguided in regards to Garoppolo’s availability, but the Bears were obviously willing to ship away draft choices in order to bring in a passer. Ultimately, Chicago not only signed free agent Mike Glennon, but sent a bevy of picks to the 49ers in order to move up one spot in the first round for UNC’s Mitch Trubisky. Sending a second-rounder to Cincinnati for McCarron, then, wouldn’t have been out of the question.
Cleveland Browns
The one club known to have held McCarron trade talks with the Bengals is the Browns, who were reportedly discussing McCarron as late as the first day of the draft in April. However, negotiations between Cincinnati and Cleveland apparently didn’t get very far, as the Bengals were had assigned a high price tag to its backup quarterback. Based on familiarity alone, the Browns were an excellent fit for McCarron, as Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson was the Bengals’ offensive coordinator when McCarron entered the league in 2014. The Bengals didn’t seem to have any qualms about dealing McCarron to a division rival, and Cleveland seems like an obvious contender for the mystery team that offered Cincinnati a second-round pick, especially given that it owned two of them heading into the draft.
Denver Broncos
An armchair psychologist might say general manager John Elway‘s insistence that the Broncos are not currently trying to trade for McCarron (“150% false) is a bit on the defensive side, but even if Denver isn’t looking into McCarron at the moment, that doesn’t mean the club wasn’t interested in him earlier this year. Yes, the Broncos used a first-round pick on Paxton Lynch just a year ago, but reports on him and fellow quarterback Trevor Siemian haven’t been positive. Plus, Denver was linked to at least one signal-caller upgrade — veteran Tony Romo — this offseason, meaning the Broncos were willing to put Lynch and Siemian on the bench if a better option was discovered.
Houston Texans
One of the three clubs on this list that ultimately traded up to select a quarterback in the first round of the draft, the Texans are now set for the future with Clemson’s Deshaun Watson under center. But would they have been willing to ship a relatively early pick to the Bengals for McCarron before acquiring Watson? Possibly, although the fact that McCarron would likely need to be extended relatively quickly may have presented a problem. The Texans are staring at long-term deals for wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, so cap space could quickly get tight. And after general manager Rick Smith whiffed on Brock Osweiler in 2016, Texans ownership may not have given approval for the front office to spend both draft pick capital and more cash on another unproven quarterback.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs actually selected another quarterback — Georgia’s Aaron Murray — one pick before McCarron came off the board to Cincinnati in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. But McCarron doesn’t look like a perfect fit for Kansas City, and like Houston, cap space problems would have likely come into play. The Chiefs are currently projected to be nearly $5MM over the cap in 2018, so extending or franchising McCarron would have possibly been untenable. As such, Kansas City needed the benefits of a rookie quarterback contract, and instead opted to trade up to acquire Patrick Mahomes out of Texas Tech.
New York Jets
Writing in early March, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com suggested the Jets may have looked into a possible Sheldon Richardson-for-McCarron trade, noting his belief that Cincinnati would have had to insert a draft pick to get a deal done. I completely disagree on that last point, as a quarterback — even a reserve — has more value than a unproductive edge rusher/defensive tackle (plus, Richardson is scheduled to earn nearly $8MM more than McCarron in 2017), the idea of Gang Green trading for McCarron wasn’t completely out of the question. New York isn’t trying to win during the upcoming season, however, and will limp through the campaign with Josh McCown, Bryce Petty, and Christian Hackenberg before presumably finding a quarterback in next year’s draft.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers are one of the more interesting clubs on this list, as new head coach Kyle Shanahan should be allowed to essentially handpick his quarterback of the future at this point. San Francisco signed free agents Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley, and drafted Iowa’s C.J. Beathard in the third round, but any talks regarding McCarron likely would have occurred before the 49ers made those moves. Still, the idea that San Francisco would have offered a second-round pick for McCarron seems unlikely for a few reasons. First, the Niners’ second-rounder was No. 34 overall, an extremely valuable draft choice, and second, San Francisco is probably holding off on adding a long-term quarterback until the 2018 free agent status of Kirk Cousins — Shanahan’s former pupil — is resolved.
What do you think? Did one of these clubs offer a second-round pick for McCarron? Or was it another unidentified team? Weigh in here:
Which team offered a second-round pick for A.J. McCarron?
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Cleveland Browns 25% (750)
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New York Jets 18% (529)
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Denver Broncos 13% (385)
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San Francisco 49ers 12% (368)
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Arizona Cardinals 9% (256)
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Other 7% (207)
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Buffalo Bills 5% (152)
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Houston Texans 5% (147)
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Chicago Bears 4% (132)
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Kansas City Chiefs 1% (37)
Total votes: 2,963
Broncos DE Billy Winn Done For Year
Broncos DE Billy Winn has suffered a torn ACL last night, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The Broncos braced themselves for the bad news when Winn was carted off of the field in Thursday night’s preseason game against the Bears. 
Winn was set to serve as Denver’s primary backup nose tackle behind Domata Peko. After he joined up with the Broncos last year, he proved to be a reliable, though unspectacular, reserve option. The 28-year-old appeared in all 16 regular season games (two starts) and played on roughly 30% of the Broncos’ defensive snaps. In that span, Winn had 19 tackles and one fumble recovery while grading as the league’s No. 97 interior defender among 127 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus.
Losing Winn is not ideal, but the Broncos can turn to free agent addition Zach Kerr and Kyle Peko (cousin of Domata) for support in the middle.
Broncos Not Trying To Acquire A.J. McCarron
A recent report from a Denver radio station indicating that the Broncos are trying to trade for Bengals quarterback A.J. McCarron is “150% false,” a source tells Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post (on Twitter). Denver GM John Elway also took to Twitter to firmly deny the story. The Broncos seem content to roll into the season with either Paxton Lynch or Trevor Siemian as the starter. Meanwhile, the asking price on McCarron has been outlandish in the past. The Bengals were said to be seeking a first round pick for him earlier this offseason.
Trevor Siemian Leading Broncos QB Race
It’s not exactly a secret the Broncos are hoping their 2016 first-round pick takes the quarterback reins by Week 1, but Paxton Lynch has yet to offer much evidence he’s ready to do that. The obvious caveat of the Broncos being yet to begin their preseason slate applies, but Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com notes Trevor Siemian is in control of this job by default. Broncos staffers aren’t sensing a different vibe from this competition compared to last season, Robinson reports, adding current Broncos personnel view Siemian in front of this race due to Lynch’s inconsistency.
While the Broncos would still hold out hope for Lynch to seize this job at some point in the season, he has lost “every single practice” to the less heralded Siemian, Robinson writes. Siemian’s backstory as a seventh-round pick holding off a player of Lynch’s pedigree for a second season would be interesting for a Broncos team expected to again rely on its defense, but as of now the ex-Northwestern part-time quarterback has a legitimate chance to keep the job.
Joseph Tabs McKenzie As Punt Returner
- Broncos camp still has a ways to go, but Vance Joseph has identified his punt returner already. Five-foot-7 Isaiah McKenzie won the job, the first-year coach said, via Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com. Although Joseph views McKenzie as too small for kick-return responsibilities, the Broncos drafted him with a punt-return role in mind. They remain hopeful he can have an impact on offense as well. McKenzie returned five punts for touchdowns during three seasons at Georgia.
Renck: Siemian Has Upper Hand For Broncos
- The Broncos held a scrimmage on Saturday, and they exited the workout with Trevor Siemian in a better place on his quest to hold off first-round pick Paxton Lynch. Siemian remained consistent, per Troy Renck of Denver7, who adds Lynch continued to struggle in that department. Renck notes Lynch has shown the kind of promise associated with a first-round talent at times during camp but has encountered noticeable lapses. Vance Joseph called Lynch’s outing Saturday “very solid” outside of an interception.
Ryan Clady Retires From NFL
Ryan Clady is walking away from football. The offensive tackle took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon to announce his retirement. 
“Despite having several teams who are currently interested in signing me, I have made a very difficult decision to retire from my NFL playing career. I have deliberated on this decision thoroughly until now because I wanted to see if the beginning of NFL training camps would inspire the passion that I need to perform at the standards that I established for myself during my nine-year NFL career,” Clady wrote. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank my family, my friends, and my representation for all of their support through the years. I would also like to thank all of my coaches, teammates, and fans for their support throughout my football career at all levels. I would especially like to thank Mr. Pat Bowlen and the Denver Broncos organization for bringing me into the NFL. I was blessed to experience eight great years, four Pro Bowls, and a World Championship with that organization. I am excited about what life holds for me going forward.”
Clady first entered the league as a first round draft pick of the Broncos in 2008. He went on to earn four Pro Bowl nods and two First-Team All-Pro selections. Unfortunately, a torn ACL suffered prior to the 2015 season sidetracked his career. Clady wound up missing the entire campaign and he was traded to the Jets in the spring of 2016. After a so-so season, Clady has opted to begin the next chapter of his professional life.
Clady’s only known offseason visit was a meeting with the Seahawks in March.
Kasim Edebali Next Man Up Behind Shane Ray
- The Broncos opened 2016 with a dominant outside linebacker corps, with DeMarcus Ware, Shane Ray and Shaquil Barrett joining Von Miller in the fold. Miller has none of those sidekicks available for the time; Ray and Barrett may both be out throughout the preseason. Vance Joseph discussed the early replacement hierarchy here Saturday, calling recent UFA signing Kasim Edebali the top edge rusher alongside Miller (via Mike Klis of 9News, on Twitter). Edebali played three years with the Saints but wasn’t offered an RFA tender in March, leading to his one-year deal with the Broncos.
- Menelik Watson has missed 37 of a possible 64 regular-season games due to various injuries through four seasons, and the Broncos‘ projected right tackle starter dropped a lot of weight in an attempt to stay on the field. The former Raiders right tackle is close to 315 pounds after playing in the 340s earlier in his career, per Troy Renck of Denver7 (Twitter links), noting Watson told him the reduction is because of the slew of setbacks he encountered.
- Joseph won’t have 5-foot-7 rookie Isaiah McKenzie return kicks due to his slight frame, Klis tweets. Carlos Henderson and Cody Latimer are vying to handle those duties for the Broncos while McKenzie has the inside track to return punts. This is a deviation of sorts for a Broncos team who received high-end kick-return production from 5-5 Trindon Holliday in 2012-13. The team has not had much success in this area since, leading to the selection of McKenzie in the fifth round.
Broncos Sign LB Danny Mason
Danny Mason is returning to Denver. According to ESPN’s Adam Caplan (via Twitter), the linebacker has signed with the Broncos. To make room on the roster, the team has released tight end Henry Krieger-Coble (via The Denver Post’s Nicki Jhabvala on Twitter).
Mason, a 2013 undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M–Commerce, spent his first professional season playing for the Indoor Football League. The linebacker eventually caught on with the Broncos during the 2015 offseason, and he had a brief stint on the team’s practice squad. Mason has also spent time in the Bears organization. The Broncos seemingly have plenty of depth at linebacker, although they could be looking for insurance in case Shaquil Barrett is forced to sit Week 1.
Krieger-Coble joined the Broncos organization last offseason as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa. He ultimately appeared in two games with the team, hauling in a single 13-yard catch. The 25-year-old already had an uphill battle to make the squad, especially after the Broncos selected Jake Butt in the fifth round of this past year’s draft. Besides the rookie, the Broncos are also rostering tight ends Virgil Green, Jeff Heuerman, and A.J. Derby.
Broncos Likely To Place Chad Kelly On IR
Broncos quarterback Chad Kelly will likely spend his rookie season on injured reserve, per Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post (Twitter link), who indicates 2017 will be something of a redshirt campaign for Kelly. This year’s Mr. Irrelevant, Kelly is currently on the non-football injury list after undergoing wrist surgery in April. With Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch set to act as Denver’s top two quarterbacks, Kelly wouldn’t have played a role this season anyway, so the Broncos would rather not waste a roster spot. Denver will have to wait until final cutdowns to move Kelly to IR, or else risk losing him to waivers.