Browns Research
The Cleveland Browns have already penciled in private workouts for top quarterback prospects like Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, and Derek Carr. Johnny Manziel even managed to schedule a session this weekend at the Browns facilities, despite not getting a visit at his Texas A&M Pro Day. A surprise candidate, A.J. McCarron, is working out for Cleveland today, but the news shouldn’t be too shocking. McCarron is a more than qualified competitor who possesses a superb resume.
On that note, here are the facts. McCarron attended the University of Alabama; the school speaks for itself, for five years. The quarterback played for four seasons, only being the full time starter for the last three. During his tenure at Alabama, he compiled a tremendous 36-4 record (.900 winning percentage) while engraving his name into the school record books with career marks of 10,019 yards and 77 passing touchdowns.
Speaking of numbers, McCarron owns a 66.9% completion percentage while only surrendering 15 interceptions, no more than seven in one season. Unfortunately, a stat that stands out worse than a zit is his career -64 rushing yards. Consequently, this is not impressive at all, but apparently you don’t need to always attempt to scramble for positive yards to win football games. Quarterbacks are not supposed to be big time rushers anyway, but I feel this should be a minor area requiring improvement.
Regardless of immobility and possible lack of evasiveness, the 23 year old is a proven winner. The Alabama native may not own a Heisman Trophy winner, but he does own two National Championship rings, three if you count his redshirt freshman year in 2009. Either way, McCarron is the only quarterback to win back to back National Championships in the BCS era.
It’s funny because both title runs required dismembering dangerous undefeated teams in LSU (2011) and Notre Dame (2012). Both games resulted in considerable blowouts, LSU falling 21-0 and Notre Dame bowing down in a 42-14 defeat.
The NFL draft will be arriving soon and the speculation will grow as the days count down. The quarterback position is obviously a top priority, as it has been all off-season. Tons of time and research have been devoted to finding a field general that best suits this franchise going into the future. There is no solid evidence if the Cleveland Browns will truthfully pursue A.J. McCarron or this is a smokescreen.
Despite what occurs, A.J. McCarron should be seen as a plan B, who will not be drafted sooner than the second round.
-Max Gold
Image Credited to: www.sportsillustrated.cnn.com
