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Report: Browns fumbled handoff of AJ McCarron deal with Bengals

Posted at 4:05 PM, Oct 31, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-31 19:22:52-04

Leave it to the Browns to fumble the AJ McCarron trade.

Then again, we don't know who to blame - the Bengals or Browns - for why the deal went right down to the 4 p.m. deadline Thursday.

All we know, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, is that the Bengals confirmed the deal with the NFL at 3:55 and the Browns did not. The Browns then appealed to the NFL to allow the trade, but that's like asking the game officials to put a few more minutes on the clock when you're knocking on the goal line.

The NFL said no.

And now it's a lose-lose situation for both teams. McCarron, as good a backup QB as there is, will say goodbye to the Bengals in free agency next year in search of a starting job - assuming he wins his dispute with the team over service time.

We don't know what the Browns offered for McCarron in terms of draft picks - some reports say  second- and third-round picks. If so, that would have been a huge haul for the fifth-round pick in 2014.