Hard to believe AJ still on bench in NFL

TIDE-HSV said:

Being a clipboard holder, with the salary and retirement, and no CTE, is not the worst of worlds...

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Gary Kubiak was drafted the same time as John Elway and spent his entire 9 year career backing him up in Denver. Had 5 total starts in his career. Not a bad gig at all if you have someone as durable as Elway ahead of you.

B1GTide said:

3 years, but it isn't as great as many assume. You get $5640 per year for each year in the league, maxing at 10 years. The 401k plan is amazing with a 2:1 match. This is where you can make bank, investing so much early in life and letting it grow.

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Would suggest he get with Barrett Jones to set out his financial plan. He'd still have plenty left over for a very upscale lifestyle.

Ole Man Dan said:

Years ago I talked with Cliff Stout. He sat behind Terry Bradshaw for 16-17 years. LATER...
Cliff came to the Birmingham Stallions with great knees and hips.
Cliff might have got splinters in his butt from riding the bench, but he was a great QB for Birmingham.
Rollie Dotch (sp) was the Stallions coach Pretty good coach.

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Actually Stoudt was a back-up for only 6 years in Pittsburgh (1977-1982). He then started 15 games during the 1983 season for Pittsburgh while Bradshaw was out with elbow surgery. Stoudt then came to the Stallions for the 1984 and 1985 USFL seasons.

The Steelers and the saints have learned the importance of a back-up.

Rama Jama said:

480, 000 is the league minimum so the punter still does pretty well.

AJ has not had the best of luck with injuries. The LSU running back who fumbled in the Cincy playoff game cost him major money. Had the Bengals gone on to win, he'd have been a valuable commodity. No he doesn't have the talent Tua has, but he would be a solid starter for a team if given the opportunity. All you have to do is look at the teams desperate for a QB and who they have starting to see he is better than at least 1/3rd of them. But he has been labeled a backup now and frankly there is not much he can do about it. The NFL seems to be looking for the flavor of the month rather than making good personnel decisions. Does anyone think the Giants drafted a sleeper QB in Daniel Jones in the first round when they could have had him in the 3rd or 4th round? This is a prime example of how stupid many of the GM's are.

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Ahhh, the NFL, where a bird in the bush is worth two (or more) in the hand.

Rama Jama said:

480, 000 is the league minimum so the punter still does pretty well.

AJ has not had the best of luck with injuries. The LSU running back who fumbled in the Cincy playoff game cost him major money. Had the Bengals gone on to win, he'd have been a valuable commodity. No he doesn't have the talent Tua has, but he would be a solid starter for a team if given the opportunity. All you have to do is look at the teams desperate for a QB and who they have starting to see he is better than at least 1/3rd of them. But he has been labeled a backup now and frankly there is not much he can do about it. The NFL seems to be looking for the flavor of the month rather than making good personnel decisions. Does anyone think the Giants drafted a sleeper QB in Daniel Jones in the first round when they could have had him in the 3rd or 4th round? This is a prime example of how stupid many of the GM's are.

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Daniel Jones was not making it out of the first half of the first round. I am not saying that he will be an NFL success story, but he was the best performing QB in all post-season workouts, by far. If the Giants wanted him, they had to take him at #6 or trade back a few spots and take him a little later, but they had a ton of draft picks last year, so that wasn't likely. The real question is why they picked him when they still had a healthy Eli Manning and so many other needs.

rtr90 said:

Tua is exceptional with accuracy but I dont think we are comparing AJ with Tua. we are comparing AJ with the lot of NFL QBs currently starting (most of who I have never heard in college and whose passing has been horrendous in NFL)

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I merely used Tua as a comparison...if AJ isn't starting then there is a definitive reason. Do we really think that if he could lead a team to a Super Bowl Championship he would be leading a team? These teams play to win... As others noted his bad luck with injuries has not helped him. However, you are what your record says you are...he is a career backup, i.e., safety valve for teams. If he had the arm talent I/we thought he did, then Andy Dalton would have never made it back to the starting lineup.

I hope he proves me wrong...not sure that will ever happen.

B1GTide said:

Daniel Jones was not making it out of the first half of the first round. I am not saying that he will be an NFL success story, but he was the best performing QB in all post-season workouts, by far. If the Giants wanted him, they had to take him at #6 or trade back a few spots and take him a little later, but they had a ton of draft picks last year, so that wasn't likely. The real question is why they picked him when they still had a healthy Eli Manning and so many other needs.

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I think we see why in week #3...big surprise.

mlh said:

You know what the best job in the NFL is?

Backup punter.

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I'm pretty sure most teams do not carry a backup punter on their 53 man roster. If the punter gets injured during the game the place kicker would punt until they could sign somebody else for the next game. Most don't even keep a backup punter on their practice squad..

B1GTide said:

Daniel Jones was not making it out of the first half of the first round. I am not saying that he will be an NFL success story, but he was the best performing QB in all post-season workouts, by far. If the Giants wanted him, they had to take him at #6 or trade back a few spots and take him a little later, but they had a ton of draft picks last year, so that wasn't likely. The real question is why they picked him when they still had a healthy Eli Manning and so many other needs.

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Have you seen Eli play in recent years? Since 2012 he leads the NFL in losses, interceptions and overall turnovers. He's been bad for quite some time now. They had to take a chance on someone who might be a franchise QB. Look what they did in the previous year. They drafted Saquon Barkley with the #2 pick. He was rookie of the year and is arguably the best RB in the league but without a good QB it doesn't matter..

CrimsonForce said:

I'm pretty sure most teams do not carry a backup punter on their 53 man roster. If the punter gets injured during the game the place kicker would punt until they could sign somebody else for the next game. Most don't even keep a backup punter on their practice squad..

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Dang it! Another dream dashed!

CrimsonForce said:

Have you seen Eli play in recent years? Since 2012 he leads the NFL in losses, interceptions and overall turnovers. He's been bad for quite some time now. They had to take a chance on someone who might be a franchise QB. Look what they did in the previous year. They drafted Saquon Barkley with the #2 pick. He was rookie of the year and is arguably the best RB in the league but without a good QB it doesn't matter..

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They did not need to pick up a new QB in this year's draft. They could have worked on their entire roster. They owed Eli $20MM no matter what this year, even if they cut him.

My point - when you need 20 players, you don't replace your QB. When you get close, you can replace your QB. The Giants are still years away.

To answer the OP’s question:

AJ is just not NFL starter material and he gets hurt too much. . A lot of folks keep bringing up 2 arguments. 1) he didn’t get a fair shot and 2) he should get a shot because of that playoff season.

Truth is he did get a fair shot- ever since Brady every NFL team has obsessed on each other’s backups. They have every sliver of film on every qb. Point is they know who AJ Mccarron is and none of them feel he worth a starter role.

But what probably hurt his chances worse than anything was winning his grievance at absolutely the worst time. He won at the craziest QB FA I’ve ever seen in my life. Probably his best choice once people passed him over was being Brady’s 3rd string. Choosing the Bills exposed many of his flaws and his health concerns. Being behind Brady has its perks, and people taking a chance on you is one of them.

But I think AJ will be a career backup. And that is not a bad thing at all.

B1GTide said:

They did not need to pick up a new QB in this year's draft. They could have worked on their entire roster. They owed Eli $20MM no matter what this year, even if they cut him.

My point - when you need 20 players, you don't replace your QB. When you get close, you can replace your QB. The Giants are still years away.

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I guess my overall point was that Eli has been terrible for years and at some point they have to try to get his replacement regardless of how the rest of their roster looks. Eli is not even a serviceable QB anymore. If Jones is their next franchise QB it was a great pick. It's the risk/reward factor of drafting a QB vs another position player. No matter how good another position player is they do not have near the impact a QB does (see Barkley last year). They weren't going to completely overhaul their roster with whoever they would've taken with the #6 pick anyhow but if Jones pans out it's a homerun. If they drafted a different player who turned out good they're still stuck in the mud with no QB..