Alabama in the NFL: Falcons QB AJ McCarron Out for the Season with Torn ACL
Atlanta Falcons backup quarterback AJ McCarron is sidelined for the entirety of the NFL season with a torn ACL, the team announced Sunday afternoon. An MRI diagnosed the injury.
The former Crimson Tide star suffered the injury Saturday night in a preseason game to Miami and will sit out all of the Falcons 2021 campaign after signing to Atlanta as a free agent in the offseason.
McCarron arrived to Atlanta and the NFC South as a seventh-year player after spending three years as a Cincinnati Bengal, one season as an Oakland Raider, and after playing the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Houston Texans.
Following his career at Alabama, the Mobile, Alabama native was drafted by Cincinnati in the fifth round with the 164th overall selection.
In six seasons in the NFL, he's started five games, four with the Bengals, including his lone playoff start in the wild card round of 2015, and one with the Texans.
The fifth-round draft pick posted career-bests in passing attempts, completions, yards, and touchdowns during his rookie campaign, accounting for 854 passing yards and six touchdowns, and 79 completions on 119 attempts.
McCarron was part of three national championship-winning teams while at Alabama, including two as the Crimson Tide's starting quarterback, 2011 and 2012. Under coach Nick Saban at Alabama, his record as a starter was 35-2.
An All-American selection in 2013, he also won the Maxwell Award, given to the College Football Player of the Year, and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, awarded to the top underclassmen quarterback of college football, that same season.
McCarron was a team captain of the Crimson Tide and was the runner-up for the 2013 Heisman Trophy.
