NE Ohio among NFL draft site finalists

The NFL has named five sites as finalists to host the NFL Draft in either 2019 or 2020.

Finalists to host either the 2019 or 2020 draft include Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas and Nashville, Tennessee, as well as a combined entry of Cleveland and Canton, Ohio. Canton is the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Representatives for each site will offer presentations before the final selections are made in May at the NFL spring meetings in Atlanta.

The draft historically has taken place in New York each year, but it has moved around lately. The draft was held in Chicago in 2015 and 2016 before moving to Philadelphia last year.

This year’s draft is taking place April 26-28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

NFL

MCCARRON TO BECOME FREE AGENT » AJ McCarron has won his arbitration case against the Cincinnati Bengals and will become an unrestricted free agent next month, making him one of the more attractive quarterbacks on the market.

McCarron challenged the Bengals’ decision to put him on a non-football injury list his rookie year of 2014, when the fifth-round pick had a sore passing shoulder. The Bengals contended he should be under contract for an additional season in 2018. An independent arbitrator ruled in McCarron’s favor.

McCarron was Andy Dalton’s backup in Cincinnati and wants a chance to start somewhere. He took over when Dalton broke his thumb late in the 2015 season and led the Bengals to the playoffs, where they lost to Pittsburgh.