“It is what it is,” McCarron said. “Nothing I can do but come out and, like I said the first time I talked to y’all when we were first leaving the season, if I am back here I’ll be the best guy I can be and best teammate, best backup for AD (Andy Dalton) and help him in whatever way I can. That’s my job.
“There’s no reason to be pissed off about it or worry about it,” he added. “It’s out of your control. It’s not like it’s my contract year and I’m trying to negotiate or anything like that. I’m under contract here and like I’ve said in interviews before, if nothing did happen, I’d be here when I was supposed to be here and come to do my job to the best of my ability. That’s what I’m going to do. That’s what I’ve always done. I love this game. And I love being around the guys. I’m just ready to have fun.”
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After being selected in the fifth round in 2014, McCarron is entering the final year of his rookie contract. But because he spent much of his rookie season on the Non-Football Injury list, he did not accrue an official season toward free agency.
McCarron is disputing that but said a decision likely will not be reached until after the season.
“It’s just something they’re going to fight on their side, and something I’m going to fight on my side to prove why I shouldn’t have to have another year,” he said. “It is what it is. That’s what the lawyers and all that will fix out and we’ll see what happens.”
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As an unrestricted free agent, McCarron could sign with any team he wanted beginning with the new league year in March 2018. As a restricted free agent, the Bengals could tender him an offer that another team would have to match. If another team matched the offer and McCarron signed with that team, the Bengals would receive either a first- or second-round draft pick depending on the amount of the tender.
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Despite that disagreement in free agency status and the disappointment over not being traded, McCarron said there are no hard feelings and he has nothing but gratitude when it comes to the Bengals organization.
“From a personal standpoint, and I’ve said this multiple times in my years here and maturing a lot more, I didn’t have the best draft process when it came to things, and they took a chance on me,” he said. “And I’ve forever been grateful for that, and always will be. I love this organization for taking that opportunity when a lot of people were passing on me. They believed in me.”
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Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, team owner and president Mike Brown and director of player personnel Duke Tobin have said McCarron provides great value as a quality backup and that it would take an extraordinary offer for them to trade him. But as a fifth-rounder with a 2-1 record in three regular-season starts, McCarron isn't likely to attract the amount of compensation it would take.
He sounded resigned to the fact that, barring an injury to Dalton, he will spend another season as a backup. But McCarron also said he accepts it.
“As a competitor you want to play,” he said. “It’s just in you. I’m a huge competitor, no matter what I’m playing. I’ve always been that way. I want to play. But, like I said, these are the circumstances and it’s something I can’t control. So there’s no reason to really worry about it, think about it, because then its pills over into life outside of football land it could affect your marriage or relationships with people. I don’t want that.
“A lot of people wish they could be in my, in any of our shoes, my shoes, talking from my point of view, to get paid the amount of money we get paid to play a game,” he continued. “So I love it. I’m at peace with it. It is what it is.”
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