AJ McCarron to hit open market in NFL free agency after arbitrator's ruling

An arbitrator has ruled Cincinnati Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron will be an unrestricted free agent when the NFL's 2018 business year begins at 3 p.m. CST March 14.

The four-year contract that McCarron signed as a rookie runs out at that time. NFL Network and ESPN reported on Thursday afternoon that the quarterback had won his grievance against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The independent arbitrator weighed the merits of McCarron's contention that he should become an unrestricted free agent against the Bengals' belief that the former Alabama All-American should be a restricted free agent in 2018.

As an unrestricted free agent, McCarron will be able to sign with any team.

Had he been ruled a restricted free agent, Cincinnati still would have had some control over what happened to him. The Bengals would have been able to match any contract offer to McCarron and also could have placed a tender on him that would have required any team signing him to turn over a first-, second- or fifth-round draft choice to Cincinnati (depending on the tender).

Big day today for @10AJMcCarron ...its started early. No grievance here. Only hard work. Control what you can control. [?] pic.twitter.com/UOAkpDnKwU
-- QB Country (@QBCountry) February 15, 2018

At issue in the grievance: Did the Bengals handle the non-football injury designation correctly in McCarron's first season?

The non-football injury designation in the NFL doesn't necessarily mean that a player didn't get hurt during a football activity, such as a game or practice; it just means he didn't get hurt during a football activity for an NFL team.

The injury in question for McCarron concerned his throwing shoulder. The former St. Paul's standout bypassed a hometown appearance in the Reese's Senior Bowl, but he threw at the NFL Scouting Combine after his final season at Alabama.

After being selected in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, McCarron passed his post-draft physical, but was reported to have been held out of passing drills during some of the Bengals' offseason program because of a shoulder issue, although he threw at minicamp.

With training camp set to open, Cincinnati put McCarron on the non-football injury list on July 21, 2014, and the Bengals kept him there when the regular season started. That meant McCarron would be off the active roster for at least the first six games of the season.

After that time, the Bengals used the maximum period before allowing McCarron to return to practice on Nov. 19, 2014, and made the decision to place him on the active roster on the latest allowable date -- Dec. 9, 2014. That came with only three games left in the regular season.

A player must spend at least six games on the active roster for the season to accrue toward free agency. A player without a contract who has at least four accrued seasons becomes an unrestricted free agent. A player without a contract who has only three accrued seasons becomes a restricted free agent.

The long stay on NFI kept McCarron from accruing a season as a rookie.

But his contention was he shouldn't have been held out so long. Based on the amount of throwing he was doing in his rehab work, McCarron felt he was healthy enough to practice with the team and return to the active roster in time to meet the six-game limit.

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McCarron earned All-State honors in football and baseball at St. Paul's in Mobile before going to Alabama, where he was the starting quarterback for two of the Crimson Tide's BCS national-championship teams. At Alabama, McCarron became the school's all-time passing leader, won the Maxwell Award and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting for the 2013 season.

After his abbreviated rookie season, McCarron has spent the past three seasons as Andy Dalton's backup.

McCarron most recently started and played a full game on Jan. 9, 2016, an AFC wild-card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He saw his first action in mop-up roles in three Cincinnati wins earlier in his second season before Dalton suffered a broken thumb against the Steelers on Dec. 13, 2015. McCarron entered that game and spent the rest of the season as the Bengals' quarterback.

McCarron helped Cincinnati win two of its final three regular-season games (with the loss coming to eventual Super Bowl 50 champ Denver in overtime) to wrap up the AFC North title. In his three regular-season starts, McCarron completed 54-of-83 passes for 552 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.

In the playoffs, McCarron rallied Cincinnati from a 15-0 deficit to a 16-15 lead over Pittsburgh with less than two minutes to play with three straight scoring drives in the fourth quarter. A fumble and a meltdown by the Bengals' defense kept Cincinnati from picking up its first postseason victory since 1990 as the Steelers came back for an 18-16 win.

McCarron played two snaps in the 2016 season.

In 2017, he'd played three snaps until getting to operate the Bengals' offense for a series against the Chicago Bears on Dec. 10 and two series against the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 17.

In October, the Bengals had a deal in place with Cleveland to trade McCarron. But the Browns botched the necessary paperwork to complete the transaction before the NFL's trade deadline arrived.

In his NFL career, McCarron has completed 86-of-133 passes for 920 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions for a 93.6 passing-efficiency rating in 11 regular-season games.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.

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