McCarron a backup with bragging rights
AJ McCarron was a star at Alabama where he led the Crimson Tide to consecutive national championships.
But in the NFL, success has not come as fast.
He’s not worried so much about that, though, as he enters his first season with the Texans as Deshaun Watson’s backup. McCarron just wants to have fun and play football.
“It’s part of it. It’s bigger than me,” McCarron said when asked if he was frustrated his career hasn’t taken off. “I’m truly blessed at the end of the day to make the money that I make and play a game for a living. So I don’t worry about what-ifs or things along that line.”
McCarron was drafted in the fifth round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014. He appeared in 11 games in four seasons with the Bengals, where he was a backup to Katy’s Andy Dalton. In 2018, McCarron signed a two-year contract with the Buffalo Bills but was later traded to the Raiders and appeared in two games in relief of Derek Carr.
The Texans signed McCarron to a one-year deal in late March to replace Brandon Weeden as the No. 2 quarterback.
Once the season comes around, McCarron said he’ll be able to help Watson a lot more because of his experience. For now, Watson is helping McCarron adjust.
“It’s always important for QBs to bounce ideas off of each other, whether that’s during the game, him coming from the sideline,” McCarron said. “We’re here for one goal, and that’s to win.”
Texans coach Bill O’Brien said that in the few months he has been with the team McCarron has brought a competitive, smart and dependable approach to the quarterback room. While there are things he needs to improve on, like the knowledge of the system, McCarron works hard, according to O’Brien.
“He shows up on the days that the vets have off. He comes in with the rookies. He works with the rookies,” O’Brien said. “He’s really put a lot of time into learning this offense.”
When choosing to sign with the Texans, McCarron felt he had some familiarity with the team’s offense, but he also sees it as a challenge after having worked with the Raiders, who run a true West Coast offense.
“At the end of the day, in the in the league, everybody runs the same concepts,” he said. “A scheme might be a little different, the reads might be a little different, but everybody’s running the same plays. So it’s just playing football.”
McCarron, like Watson, knows about winning. He was the starter for a pair of titles at Alabama and won the Maxwell Award and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm award in 2013. Watson started at Clemson in 2014 and also won the Unitas award in 2016 and led Clemson to a national title.
“Every once in a while we’ll say how we wish we would have played each other and that would’ve been fun,” McCarron said. “I joked with him once and told him I’m undefeated in those (championship) games and he’s 50-50.”