Radio guys love creating a stir!
Remember last year when Chris Cooley of ESPN980 radio said Marvin Lewis was retiring? That was obviously false and now another radio blog has come out with an equally false claim.
This morning, 1043thefan published an "exclusive" story saying the Denver Broncos are "aggressively pursuing" a trade for Cincinnati Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron.
Within two hours, the story was disputed by the team, via The Denver Post Broncos reporter, Nicki Jhabvala, who was told the report was “150 percent false”.
I'm told the Broncos are not trying to trade for AJ McCarron. "It's 150% false," source said.
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) August 9, 2017
The Fan’s Sandy Clough added that "seven other teams also have interest in McCarron,” in addition to the Broncos.
The Broncos are currently deciding between last year’s starter Trevor Siemian, a seventh round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and Paxton Lynch, the team’s first round of the 2016 NFL Draft to be their starting quarterback in 2017.
Broncos GM John Elway also stepped in to add that the Broncos being interested in McCarron is “fake news”.
Rumor of us being interested in anyone other than the QBs we have is another example of irresponsible, fake news!!
— John Elway (@johnelway) August 9, 2017
The Bengals have continually said they value McCarron too much to trade him and it’s highly unlikely a trade gets done.
“The phones in our office work,” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said earlier this offseason. “They always work. I’ve got an interest in listening to any of you that want to talk. The larger point on AJ McCarron for us is he’s a very valuable piece of what we do. It’s not a point where we’re saying, ‘What do we do with this guy? We don’t have a plan for him.’ There is a plan in place for us. He plays a very valuable position and you’re always one play away from going to your backup quarterback.”
The most likely time for McCarron to have been traded was during the 2017 NFL Draft. Once that time came and went, it seemed pretty certain he’d remain with the Bengals through the season. McCarron wants to be an unrestricted free agent in 2018, but the Bengals believe he should be a restricted free agent after only being active for five games in 2014, his rookie year. According to Bengals.com, the case is in arbitration and there’s not expected to be a decision until January 2018. That will make it nearly impossible for McCarron to be traded, as his status for next season is up in the air.
For now, it’s safe to say the Broncos are not pursuing McCarron and that he will remain with the Bengals through the 2017 NFL season.