Bills’ McCarron not ready to hand QB job to draft pick
AJ McCarron couldn’t help notice the number of draft-eligible quarterback prospects the Buffalo Bills have paraded through their facility in recent days.
UCLA’s Josh Allen was in town Monday. Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield visited last week.
McCarron acknowledged this week that he stopped to chat with some of the former college players to see how they’re holding up through the pre-draft process.
And yet, their presence — and the possibility of Buffalo selecting one of them in the first round of the draft next week — won’t distract McCarron from focusing on the reason he signed with the Bills in free agency last month after spending his first four NFL seasons backing up Andy Dalton in Cincinnati.
The Bills have an opening for a starter after trading Tyrod Taylor to Cleveland this offseason, and it’s McCarron’s objective to fill the job.
“As quarterback, you’ve got to have that confidence and you’ve got to take that approach to it, because if you don’t, you’re already a step behind,” McCarron said during Buffalo’s voluntary offseason conditioning program.
He’s started bonding with his new teammates over dinner, by exchanging texts and is already making plans to spend time working out together before the start of training camp.
“That’s the way I’ve always done it,” McCarron said. “I mean, even in Cincy, I knew how to do it and not step on AD’s (Andy Dalton’s) toes.”
And forget about him paying attention to what the Bills do in the draft with their nine selections, including two first-rounders at No. 12 and 22.
“I can’t worry about it because it creates mental clutter for myself,” McCarron said. “So for me to worry about ifs and what could happen, it’s just not part of my DNA. I’ve never been that way and won’t ever do it.”
Jets: With Wednesday being the last day NFL teams could host prospective draft picks, the Jets visited with Sam Darnold at their Florham Park, N.J., complex, according to multiple sources.
During the evaluation process, the Jets hosted four of the top five quarterbacks in the upcoming NFL draft — Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen on Tuesday, and before that, UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield.
The Jets also had private workouts with Mayfield, Rosen and Allen. Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson met with Jets officials at the scouting combine.
The Jets have the No. 3 overall pick in next week’s draft, and there is heavy speculation they will select a quarterback.
Titans: Announced they will exercise their fifth-year option on quarterback Marcus Mariota. The move keeps Mariota under contract through the 2019 season.
GM Jon Robinson made the announcement ahead of the May 3 deadline to declare a fifth-year option for players drafted in 2015. Mariota threw 13 touchdown passes with a career-high 15 interceptions last season but also led the Titans to their first playoff victory since 2004.