ST. LOUIS – There appears to be bad blood between the St. Louis Battlehawks and former standout Quarterback A.J. McCarron following the QB’s release from the team on Friday.
During an appearance on the McCready and Siskey Podcast on Monday, McCarron shared comments criticizing the team for the way they handled his release.
The St. Louis Battlehawks released the standout quarterback in a surprising move on Friday after spending two years with the team. Battlehawks Head Coach Anthony Becht noted that the team is preparing to give another quarterback a chance at the starting job while also thanking McCarron for his contributions to the team.
Following the announcement of his departure, McCarron implied in a social media post that he did not receive a notice of his release and teased his appearance on the podcast. “My phone must not work anymore to let me know when this was actually going down,” McCarron shared.
During his appearance on the podcast, McCarron shared that he had a feeling that the team would part ways with him but tension built due to the team owning his player rights. The Battlehawks mentioned that they were looking to trade his rights to another team, but McCarron wasn’t interested in doing business with the team.
“I’m not in the business to help you out either,” McCarron said while on the podcast. “I know if you trade me, you’re going to get multiple, at least two good players, from the other team and I don’t want to hurt my new team.”
McCarron mentioned that the two sides agreed to make a social media post later to thank St. Louis for their support during the time he played for the Battlehawks. It wasn’t until a day or two later that McCarron says he was left surprised when his son told him days later that the team announced his release on social media without him knowing.
“That’s how I found out,” said McCarron. “I was not called, was not warned, was not given the opportunity to put out a post with the team like I was told.”
Although things did not end the way he wanted, McCarron made sure to show his love and appreciation for the fans and city of St. Louis for the support they gave him during his tenure on the team before mentioning his intention to bring revenge to the team.
“If there’s any way possible, I wanna come back with a vengeance and I wanna face them twice,” said McCarron. “I wanna go to somebody that faces them twice a year and put it on them.”
When healthy, McCarron had served as the Battlehawks primary quarterback over their last two UFL seasons. McCarron ends his Battlehawks career with more than 3,700 passing yards and 39 touchdowns over 17 games.
The Battlehawks won 14 total games, packed record spring football crowds greater than 40,000 fans, and qualified for playoffs in the 2024 UFL season with McCarron as the lead quarterback.
McCarron was notably played quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide during the 2012 and 2013 college football seasons. He is the program’s all-time leader in passing yards (9,019) and second in passing touchdowns (77). In 2013, McCarron finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up – honoring college football’s top player – losing the award to former Florida State and current Cleveland Browns Quarterback, Jameis Winston.
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