Report: Raiders cut QB AJ McCarron who they traded a fifth round pick for six months ago

The cost cutting moves continue in Oakland. Today’s news has backup quarterback AJ McCarron getting the boot. He has been officially cut by the Raiders.

Just six months ago the Raiders traded a 5th round pick to acquire him from the Bills prior to last season, sending them the pick they got from the Steelers for Ryan Switzer. Now the Bills will pick at that spot and the Raiders have essentially nothing to show for it.

Based purely on McCarron’s contract, the move to cut him wouldn’t be entirely unexpected. He represented a cap hit of $5 million and leaves behind no dead money. However, just last month Mike Mayock gave McCarron a vote of conifdence when discussing the team’s quarterback situation.

“We’ve got a young quarterback that we think is a franchise quarterback that’s going to be 28 years old in March. So, we are pretty happy with where we are, especially with our backup quarterback who we signed last year, [AJ] McCarron. We feel like we are pretty good at the quarterback position.”

For now Derek Carr’s backup is Nathan Peterman, which probably can’t stand, so don’t be surprised if they look at a quarterback in the draft at some point.