Last year, AJ McCarron signed up to play in the XFL for two reasons. First, so his own kids can see him play football. The second reason was to work his way back into the NFL. McCarron found a second home with the St. Louis BattleHawks. McCarron’s played well on the field in the XFL & it earned him a job back in the NFL with the team that drafted him, the Cincinnati Bengals. McCarron signed with the Bengals in September of last year and stayed on the practice squad until the month of December as he was quarterback 3 behind Joe Burrow’s back up, Jake Browning. McCarron saw some action as he played in two games, threw 5 passes, & completed 4 of them for a whopping 19 yards. The XFL and the USFL merged into one league and St. Louis, whose fans have been starving for football, survived. McCarron has the itch once again and asked for his release from the Bengals. The Bengals granted his wish and McCarron will return to St. Louis to scratch his itch behind center for the BattleHawks of the UFL, the United Football League ,which they call it now.

Things were supposed to be different for AJ McCarron. He came from the football powerhouse, University of BAMA. The University of Alabama, the Crimson Tide, is where they manufacture NFL football players. Like Ford or GMC, they make their own sports car as the Tide made their own quarterbacks as well. McCarron helped Bama win two National College Football titles in back to back years of 2012 & ’13. He’s the school’s all-time leader in passing yards with 9,019. He is second all-time in touchdown passes with 77. The Bengals drafted him in the 5th round, 164th overall in the 2014 NFL draft. He came into the league as the back up to Andy Dalton. His stock rose as he started three games in 2015 filling in for the injured Dalton. He went 2-1 as a starter as he played in 7 games total. He completed 66.1% of his passes and had 6 touchdown passes with 2 interceptions. He would not make his next NFL start until 2019 with the Houston Texans. He got in some games, mopping up mostly. His career in the NFL, including last year, he went 2-2 as a starter as he played in 19 games. He completed 63.3% of his passes for 1,192 yards of which 854 of those came in 2015. He had 6 touchdown passes all in 2015 with 3 career interceptions. He played parts of 7 seasons in the NFL, mostly with the Bengals, then Texans, and the Raiders. After that first season, he would never show those flashes of brilliance until the 2023 season in the XFL.

AJ McCarron started 9 games in St. Louis and went 7-2 as the starter. The BattleHawks missed the playoffs by an eyelash. During those 9 games, he completed 203 passes out of 295 attempts for 2,150 passing yards with 24 touchdown passes and threw six interceptions.

Those 24 touchdown passes broke Tommy Maddox’s record back in the original XFL in 2001 when he played for the LA Xtreme. By far, the St. Louis fans have the biggest following of any other city in all of these Spring leagues over the last few years. Since the Rams moved back to LA and left St. Louis, this city has been starving for football. They have showed up, supported the BattleHawks, and they love McCarron and this team. Before McCarron asked the Bengals for his release, he said he would only play in the UFL with the BattleHawks and Head Coach Anthony Becht. This is a marriage made in heaven with Becht, McCarron, and the city of St. Louis.

The merger of the XFL and the USFL has come down to 8 teams in the first season of the UFL. That left another 8 teams folding up shop at least for next season as each league last year fielded 8 teams each. That left many talented players available and being drafted by the 8 teams still standing. This new merger should create a league that will be very competitive with no doormats on the schedule. Coming into the league, AJ McCarron is by far the best quarterback, but he will have his work cut out for him as the opposing team’s defenses will be better. With the USFL being around for two full seasons and the XFL just having completed their first season, some teams will be playing together the last three seasons. With McCarron coming back to St. Louis with the same Head Coach and familiar with many of the guys from last year, it will help these teams stay competitive and even get better. It will avoid some of the sloppy games in the beginning of these seasons as teams take a few weeks just knock off the rust. McCarron last year double dipped from the XFL to the NFL, where it’s football all year around as this guy should be ready to go being one of the top guys in this league.

AJ McCarron may be using the UFL as his return to the NFL next season, to sharpen his skills with playing time. McCarron made more money in the NFL as a back up or 3rd string quarterback than what he will be getting in the XFL or this new league, the UFL. The first time he signed with the league, he wanted his kids to see him play. That might still be the case this go around. I think he wants to actually play football, start each game, and be the number one guy. He’s 33 years old and he was behind Jake Browning, a 27 year old. No way he will beat out Joe Burrow. His NFL dreams are reduced to being a back up & in his case he only became the 2nd guy with the injury to Burrow. McCarron can’t say he is in the top 30 quarterbacks in the NFL. The path to get playing time and be a starter is not easy in the NFL. Does the system of whatever team you sign with fit his skill set? McCarron could continue to double dip into both leagues. Right now he is not thinking of that. This is a guy that won College titles at a big time University. I bet he’d rather win on the UFL stage right now than hold the clip board in the NFL. He is risking his NFL future by playing in the UFL, if he gets hurt. I give him credit. Every athlete mentally should want to be out there playing on the grand stage. Some guys collect the money and ride the bench and look like thieves when their number is called. The USFL back in the 1980’s had young talent like Jim Kelley, Steve Young, and Doug Williams. The league back then also had journeymen who left the NFL to play football again. McCarron was fun to watch last year with the BattleHawks. This is that underdog style story which seems only set in St. Louis and the plot centers around quarterbacks. Remember the day Curt Warner left Arena football and bagging groceries for the NFL Rams back then when they were in St.Louis. McCarron too could leave his own legacy in St. Louey.