In just one moment, a team with championship aspirations can see them come crashing down with a resounding thud. That is the unfortunate situation with the Minnesota Vikings, as starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater tore his ACL and dislocated his kneecap in a non-contact situation at practice.
One of the things fan bases often do when a big name could be available is start clamoring for a fantasy-like transaction of players. Before the Vikings made a surprising choice to go after Sam Bradford to make him their new starting quarterback, Bridgewater’s injury and the impressive play from Bengals backup quarterback AJ McCarron had some folks kicking around the idea of a lucrative trade between the two teams.
On this week’s episode of The Orange and Black Insider, we finished up the show with our “What if...?” segment. This week’s topic centered around a possible trade, what could be had for McCarron and if the Bengals should pounce on a lucrative deal?
“Ultimately, what it comes down to is what is A.J. McCarron’s value? He might be the most valuable backup quarterback in the NFL,” Connor Howe said on the show. “McCarron has value, the Bengals know that and his value is only going to go up as time passes and he’s sitting on the bench. So, why trade him now?”
“What is the most valuable position in the NFL? The starting quarterback. What’s the second-most important position on a team? It might be the backup quarterback, based on what we saw last year,” Scott Schulze said. “I think if they (the Vikings) call, you say ‘yeah, that’s nice’, but unless they are offering some sort of blockbuster trade, it’s not happening.”
In response to both Scott and Connor, I made note of the mega-deal the Bengals received for Carson Palmer just five years ago. Teams also tend to get desperate when they are close enough to a championship and lose their starter, so like Minnesota was inclined to dig deep into their vaults in an effort to get a capable starting quarterback, could other teams want to do the same and be interested in McCarron?
Watch and listen to the segment below and be sure to download us on iTunes!