A.J. McCarron to the Minnesota Vikings? Thanks, but no thanks

The former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback will now be an unrestricted free-agent his offseason and he’s expected to gauge plenty of interest.

A little over five years ago, A.J. McCarron was enjoying life as the starting quarterback of the national champion Alabama Crimson Tide. Life was good for the young signal caller.

Since then, he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014 and has been manning a spot on the team’s bench as the backup behind Andy Dalton. Now he may be getting an opportunity to become a starter somewhere in 2018.

McCarron recently won a grievance against the Bengals and will now be an unrestricted free-agent this offseason.

Minnesota Vikings

With a number of teams always looking for quarterback help, McCarron shouldn’t have much trouble finding a new home.

Since his grievance win, there has been some talk that the quarterback might have some interest from the Minnesota Vikings this year. But this may just be another case of the Vikings being linked to every available quarterback with two arms and two legs this offseason.

He would likely be a cheap option considering he’s never made $1 million or more in a single season before. But unless Minnesota would be bringing him in to be a backup, there’s really no reason to add him to the team this offseason.

McCarron will likely be looking to go somewhere where he at least has the opportunity to compete for a starting job and that would not be with the Vikings. His future success is too uncertain at this point in his career (three starts in four years) for Minnesota to bring him in as a candidate to be their starter in 2018.

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If he’s willing to come in and be the backup with no questions asked, then he could possibly end up with the Vikings this year. But it’s not sounding like that will be the case.