A.J. McCarron: 'Awesome' to be Back Around Familiar Cincinnati Faces

A.J. McCarron is back in the NFL where it all started as he finds his footing on the Bengals practice squad. The quarterback lit up the XFL as a starter this past spring and it's gotten him back with an organization for the first time since 2020.

McCarron spent 2014-2017 with the Bengals as his first NFL home.

"I love the city, love playing here," McCarron told media members on Wednesday. "It's always been a great organization. So it feels awesome to be back in the city and then see a lot of the same faces. I mean, even with you guys and people in the organization and security just, there's so many of the same faces that I remember from my last year in '17. So it's awesome to be back a part of that.

McCarron was very impressed with the crowd on Monday night. One that reminded him of the brutal playoff loss to the Steelers that he quarterbacked Cincinnati in due to an injury to Andy Dalton.

"Experience in the stadium the other night," McCarron said. "Seeing the passion that the city has evolved into and for a while there with the struggles that we had at times it felt like it was more of a baseball city than football and that atmosphere reminded me of the playoff game against Pittsburgh just running out and feeling out the atmosphere so that was special."

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