St. Louis Battlehawks Royalty: AJ McCarron Journey to UFL
A sigh of relief flows through St. Louis Battlehawks fans as they rejoice in the news of their quarterback returning. It has become official that AJ McCarron has signed with the UFL for the 2024 season to return to the Battlehawks.
McCarron’s spring football story is one of the more remarkable ones in recent memory.
Starting in November 2022, he was drafted by the Battlehawks in the XFL Draft to be the starting quarterback for Anthony Becht's unknown squad. He proved quickly that not only did he belong in spring football, but he should on an NFL roster. And he would have been on an NFL roster last offseason but he wanted his sons to watch him play football so he chose to sign with the XFL.
All McCarron did in 2023 was lead the league in passer rating (108.4), completion percentage (68.8) and touchdown passes (24). While the league did not have an MVP award, XFL NewsHub did name McCarron the Most Valuable Player in the league at the end of the year. The Battlehawks went 7-3, just missing the playoffs as the third seed in the North Division.
After the season, McCarron had to play the waiting game until September to finally land on an NFL team with his second stint with the Cincinnati Bengals on their practice squad. Bengals starting quarterback Joe Burrow got injured, leading to McCarron being on the active roster the rest of the season.
Two weeks ago, McCarron spoke with Matty Fresh on the Springball Boulevard show as he had expressed concerns regarding the new UFL. Some of his concerns stemmed from the player labor union and pay for the players.
That sparked the first of the McCarron-Battlehawks reunion talks until the Bengals came into the picture again. Cincinnati announced the release of McCarron Wednesday morning.
We have released QB AJ McCarron
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) February 14, 2024
➡️ https://t.co/BckOnqQt4q pic.twitter.com/iOdb20LBOQ
Howard Beltzer added an interesting piece to the evolving story reporting McCarron asked for his release from the Bengals to join the Battlehawks. If McCarron would have waited, he wouldn’t be officially off the Bengals roster until March 13.
QB AJ McCarron asked to be released by the Bengals (team announced it today) so he can re-sign with the UFL's St. Louis Battlehawks, where he played last season when they were in the XFL. Hearing that he will officially sign Thursday.
— Howard Balzer (@HBalzer721) February 14, 2024
It’s another chapter to the UFL story. McCarron had been the face of the revamped XFL and perhaps will be in the UFL in 2024.
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Anthony Miller has been covering professional spring football since 2019 including XFL, USFL, and CFL. He was a local news reporter in Texas before transitioning to sports. Other sites he writes for includes College Football Network and NTZ Network.