The Buffalo Bills took the first step in restocking their
quarterback position by agreeing to a two-year contract with A.J. McCarron.
The 27-year-old spent the past four seasons backing up Andy Dalton in
Cincinnati after being selected by the Bengals in the fifth round of the 2014
draft.
McCarron's signing on Wednesday came a few hours after the NFL's free-agency
period opened
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three-year starter Tyrod Taylor to Cleveland. The trade left 2017 fifth-round
pick Nathan Peterman as the only quarterback on Buffalo's roster.
General manager Brandon Beane said he intended to add a veteran quarterback
this offseason to provide experience.
With two picks in each of the first three rounds of the draft, Buffalo also
is expected to target one of the highly touted quarterback prospects.
McCarron was a two-time national champion at Alabama but appeared in just 11
games in Cincinnati, mostly in mop-up duties. McCarron did start the final three
games of the 2015 season and led the Bengals to the playoffs after Dalton broke
his thumb.
Against Pittsburgh in the wild-card playoff game, McCarron had the Bengals in
position to win their first playoff game since the 1990 season. Jeremy Hill
however lost a fumble, and penalties on Vontaze Burfict and Adam "Pacman" Jones
set up the Steelers for a winning field goal in the final seconds.
Though he missed his rookie season because of a sore passing shoulder,
McCarron was allowed to become an unrestricted free agent after an independent
arbitrator ruling last month. McCarron was also nearly traded to Cleveland last
season, but the deal fell through after the Browns failed to submit the
paperwork on time.
Adam Vinatieri vividly remembers his last game against
Morten Andersen.
The Danish-born kicker had already logged more than 20 seasons in the NFL,
was well into his 40s, nearing the end of his career and still kicking as well
as anyone in the league. Back then, Vinatieri marveled at how the seemingly
ageless Andersen managed to excel for so long.
Now, more than a decade later, Vinatieri finds himself grinding through his
23rd NFL training camp
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watch the NFL’s career scoring leader make his long-awaited Hall of Fame
speech.
”It’s overdue, a long time overdue,” the Indianapolis Colts kicker said. ”I
would have liked to have seen a handful more kickers and punters make it in
there, but finally getting a second kicker in and Ray Guy getting in, it’s good
that we have some representation in there because those guys did a lot for the
league.”
Andersen’s induction provides hope to specialists such as Vinatieri that
they, too, could be headed to Canton, Ohio, one day.
Until Andersen’s selection this year, Vinatieri wasn’t sure. The only one
other ”pure” kicker to earn pro football’s highest distinction was Jan Stenerud
in 1991. Guy was elected in 2014, ending the shutout for punters.
Some believe Vinatieri could be next.
His sterling resume glistens with Hall of Fame credentials: four Super Bowl
rings, the league record for 100-point seasons (20) and second all-time in
career scoring (2
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Vinatieri needs 58 points to break the record, which could happen at midseason
if all goes well.
He owns the career record for scoring in postseason games (234), is the only
player to top 1,000 points and make 200 field goals with two teams, has
celebrated a league-record 225 victories, including playoffs, and made a
league-high 44 consecutive field goals. If Vinatieri completes this season, he
would become only the third 46-year-old player to suit up for an NFL team.
His highlight reel contains some of the most memorable kicks in league
history: two last-minute field goals to win Super Bowls and the tying and
winning kicks in the infamous Snow Bowl, which helped New England win the first
of its five Lombardi Trophies. He has been dubbed the best clutch kicker in
league history and there’s no indication ”Automatic Adam” is slowing down.
”It’s ridiculous,” holder Rigoberto Sanchez said. ”It’s honestly out of this
world, I think. Twenty-three years in the league
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in practice. It’s unreal.”
Just how much has Vinatieri seen and done during his career?
He is the last link to the NFL’s developmental league in Europe, the one
Andrew Luck’s father worked with, and one of only two players left from the
1990s. Former teammate Phil Dawson is the other.
Vinatieri joined the league before former teammates Peyton Manning and Tom
Brady, still reminds people he once tackled Herschel Walker and acknowledges
missing on Desmond Howard and Devin Hester as they returned his kickoffs for
Super Bowl scores.
He played for Hall of Fame coaches Bill Parcells and Tony Dungy, in addition
to Bill Belichick. His newest coach, Frank Reich, actually threw for 281 yards
against the Patriots during Vinatieri’s rookie season in 1996.
Somehow, though, he remains the epitome of consistency.
Last year, with a new long snapper and a new holder, Vinatieri still made
85.3 percent of his field goals and scored 109 points and now he’s back with his
oldest son
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”It comes to a point where Adam is Mr. Clutch over here, so (long snapper)
Luke (Rhodes) just tries to do his job right and get the 12 o’clock laces and I
try to get the ball in the spot that he likes and let him do the rest,” said
Sanchez, who wasn’t even born until a week after Vinatieri’s NFL debut in 1996.
”He’s been kicking it straight for a long time.”
Despite the honors, the nicknames and the Hall of Fame predictions, Vinatieri
knows he may still need more to follow the kicker he has been watching since his
younger days in South Dakota into the NFL’s most hallowed halls.
”I don’t think it hurts, that’s for sure,” Vinatieri said. ”It’s one of those
things that I haven’t really though too much about it. I’m still just trying to
help my team win games and keep on putting chapters in this book and if that
happens, fantastic.”
NOTES: The Colts have activated starting safeties Clayton Geathers and Malik
Hooker from the physically unable to perform list Thursday. Both were coming off
knee surgery. … Guard Jeremy Vujnovich also was activated from PUP. He had been
out with an injured calf after starting all 16 games last season.
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