Bengals Would Use First-Round Tender On A.J. McCarron?

Bengals backup quarterback A.J. McCarron is filing a grievance against his team in an effort to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. Cincinnati drafted him in 2014 and placed him on the non-football injury (NFI) list at the start of training camp that year due to a shoulder injury, and McCarron contends that he was healthy enough to come off the NFI list during training camp. The Bengals, however, did not activate him until December 9, 2014, so he did not accrue a season of service time.

As such, he is currently scheduled to become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2017 campaign, meaning that the Bengals would have the right of first refusal if another club signed him to an offer sheet. And, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Cincinnati plans to use a first-round tender on McCarron if he loses his grievance and remains a restricted free agent.

The first-round tender amount in 2017 was just shy of $4MM, which is not an enormous expense for a coveted signal-caller, especially since the Bengals owe their starting QB, Andy Dalton, a non-guaranteed $13.7MM salary in 2018. However, as Schefter notes, a first-round tender would make it difficult for another team to simply sign McCarron to an offer sheet, as such a team would need to send a first-round draft choice to Cincinnati if the Bengals refused to match the offer sheet.

Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer, though, says it is likely the Bengals would use a second-round tender on McCarron, and that the team could simply elect to match any offer he receives as a restricted free agent and then try to trade him. Of course, if McCarron wins his grievance, it is highly unlikely he returns to Cincinnati, and the Bengals would probably net a 2019 third-round compensatory choice if/when he signs elsewhere.

Interestingly, Schefter writes that the Browns, who bungled the opportunity to trade for McCarron last week, could also attempt to pursue Dalton via trade this offseason.