AJ McCarron is on the move again. The fifth-year quarterback was traded from the Buffalo Bills to the Oakland Raiders on Saturday in exchange for a fifth-round pick. McCarron, 27, signed a two-year deal with the Bills in March and was expected to be a leading contender for the starting job as the team looked to replace Tyrod Taylor. Buffalo now will decide between rookie Josh Allen and second-year player Nathan Peterman for the role. In Oakland, McCarron slides into the backup role behind starter Derek Carr. Connor Cook and EJ Manuel were both released by the Raiders on Saturday. Earlier in the day, the Raiders agreed to trade star pass rusher Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears. Oakland also cut wide receiver Martavis Bryant, who is facing another suspension for a substance abuse violation, according to multiple reports. Follow Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz on Twitter @MikeMSchwartz.<doc-sep>The Bills have decided to keep two quarterbacks, trading backup QB AJ McCarron ahead of the roster deadline. The Raiders traded for Bills backup quarterback AJ McCarron, the team announced Saturday. In exchange for McCarron, the Bills received a 2019 5th round draft pick. McCarron was rumored to be on the Bills' bubble ahead of the NFL roster cut deadline. He sat behind Nathan Peterman and first-round draft pick Josh Allen on the possible depth chart. The 27-year-old backed up Andy Dalton for four years in Cincinnati before signing a two-year deal with Buffalo in March. McCarron has made three career starts and thrown six touchdowns and two interceptions.<doc-sep>It might not make up for trading Khalil Mack away, but the Oakland Raiders did add quarterback AJ McCarron in a trade just before rosters had to be cut down to 53. The Buffalo Bills sent McCarron to the Raiders on Saturday afternoon, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Oakland traded a fifth-round pick to Buffalo. The Raiders didn’t get very good play from their backup quarterbacks in preseason, and adding McCarron should help. Quarterback AJ McCarron (10) was traded from the Buffalo Bills to the Oakland Raiders. (AP) [Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues are open: Sign up now for free] The Bills signed McCarron in the offseason, and it looked for a while like he might be their Week 1 starter, but that didn’t happen. AJ McCarron struggled for most of the preseason finale McCarron’s fourth quarter on Thursday night might have saved his trade value. McCarron had 39 yards passing through three quarters in the preseason finale. His passer rating at one point dipped to 0.0. He looked bad. McCarron was given the entire preseason finale by the Bills once it was clear they’d choose between rookie Josh Allen and Nathan Peterman to start Week 1 of the regular season. McCarron did rally in the fourth quarter, leading four scoring drives in a comeback win. The Raiders must have turned that game on late, because they were interested in trading for McCarron. McCarron had a rough August McCarron had an odd month. He entered training camp looking like the Bills’ Week 1 starter at quarterback, and perhaps he’d hold that job until Allen was ready. McCarron struggled in the second preseason game, hurt his shoulder — at least it wasn’t a hairline fracture in his collarbone, as was first reported — and then the Bills moved him down the depth chart. McCarron was signed to a two-year, $10 million deal in the offseason. He was looking for a chance to be a starter after backing up Andy Dalton with the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Bills offered that chance. He just couldn’t secure the job in August. Raiders needed a backup QB Story continues In each of the last two seasons, Derek Carr has missed some time due to injuries. He’s not fragile, but the Raiders couldn’t have felt very good about their backup quarterback situation. Connor Cook really struggled in the preseason. EJ Manuel played OK, but he’s a known commodity at this point. McCarron didn’t fare too well over the preseason either, but he was a fairly interesting free agent earlier this year. He was interesting enough the Bills gave him $10 million. Now McCarron gets a fresh start, although not a chance to start. The Raiders have a new backup. And the Bills can move on with Peterman and Allen. More from Yahoo Sports: • Reports: Raiders agree to trade Mack to Bears • Yankees manager has epic meltdown • Serena overcomes ankle injury in match against Venus • Kevin Iole: Can Conor-Khabib sell 3 million PPVs? – – – – – – – Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!<doc-sep>
The Raiders are busy little bees on the trade front Saturday, having made a big splash with the Bears by sending former Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack to Chicago and then following it by making another high-profile trade, landing former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron in a deal with the Bills. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media first reported the deal, while Adam Schefter reported that Oakland gave up a fifth-round pick in order to acquire McCarron. It is unlikely the Raiders will ease the pain of the Mack trade with the McCarron acquisition, and adding a backup quarterback is not likely to move the Raiders over/under back up to eight wins (it fell to 7.5 after the Mack trade). We last saw McCarron, who signed with the Bills this offseason after winning a grievance against the Bengals, playing terrible in the first half against the Bears only to lead Buffalo to a pretty crazy comeback. He called the win one of the greatest experiences of his career, which features two national titles and a Week 4 preseason comeback. But McCarron is an upgrade for Oakland, which previously had Connor Cook and EJ Manuel behind Derek Carr on the depth chart. Cook was cut by the Raiders on Saturday, according to Schefter. The fun thing about Gruden acquiring just about any player, and certainly with quarterbacks, is that he spent a decade-plus covering the NFL for ESPN as one of their "Monday Night Football" analysts. So, yes, he has said something about McCarron in the past few years and, no, it is not that complimentary. It's not mean, at least, although there isn't a whole lot of awful things Gruden said about many people during the course of his broadcasting career. The Raiders hope that McCarron won't see the field, but at the very least on a rough day for the franchise they have built in some insurance for Derek Carr's health, which has not been fantastic over the past two seasons.