AJ McCarron Injury Opens Door For Peterman

Heading into the start of the preseason, the Buffalo Bills expected offseason acquisition AJ McCarron. AJ spent the first four seasons of his career with the Cincinnati Bengals. This was to compete with rookie Josh Allen. The Bengals selected with the seventh pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Nathan Peterman, who had one touchdown and six interceptions. In limited action last season, was relegated to third string.

In their last preseason game, McCarron went down with a shoulder injury. Also, the team initially thought might cost him the season. Tests revealed AJ McCarron didn’t break is collarbone. Rather, he should be cleared to play when the pain subsides. What’s next for the Buffalo Bills?

Despite the good news, McCarron is expected to miss the remainder of the preseason, which means Peterman has a shot to take the starting job if he outplays Allen in the remaining preseason games.

Even though Peterman threw five interceptions in the first half of his first career start, Buffalo’s front office is still very high on him. During a meeting with reporters in June, general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott heaped a lot of praise on Peterman. Do the Buffalo Bills have a chance?

Buffalo Bills

“He’s a very confident young man,” Beane said. “He’s resilient. You saw a guy who got knocked down hard — not all on him, either — but the greatest thing about what Nathan did was he never pointed a finger. That says a lot. Because it’s hard. He could have easily said, ‘Well, this guy,’ or, ‘This happened.’ His next opportunity was the snow game.” The Buffalo Bills are in trouble.

McDermott and Beane were also asked if they feel Peterman gets enough credit for the team’s 13-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts in his second start.

“No,” McDermott said. “No,” echoed Beane. “Nobody talks about that. He made a great throw to Kelvin [Benjamin] to get us the lead before halftime. It proved super important after [the Colts] scored late.” This is similar to the Arizona Cardinals situation with David Johnson.

“Nate has come back in here. This player is super smart. He’s not gonna tell you how good he is or how smart he is. Steady Eddie everyday. You love how he approaches the game. I know Sean has been in [the quarterback meeting room] more than me, but even I’ve stopped in there a couple of times when [offensive coordinator Brian] Daboll has had those guys in there, and they’re writing stuff on the board. [Daboll] is playing ‘Jeopardy’ with them. He’s trying to just see what they know, and Nathan is really, really smart.”

In conclusion, with McDermott planning to wait until after the fourth preseason game to name his regular season starter, Peterman has a great chance to get the job if he continues to impress his coaches. When will AJ McCarron be back? This does not look good for the Buffalo Bills.