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2024 NFL Draft: JJ McCarthy Mocked To New England Patriots At No. 3 Overall
The pre-draft rumblings surrounding JJ McCarthy’s draft spot are only intensifying as the 2024 NFL Draft draws closer.
With the 2024 NFL Draft just a day away, Detroit, Michigan is the epicenter of the professional football world at the moment, and there’s a ton of buzz around which quarterback will after Caleb Williams is (presumably) selected No. 1 overall.
That quarterback could be Michigan’s own JJ McCarthy, a prolific winner and serial dime-tosser, who’s been mock drafted anywhere between picks No. 2 through No. 16. That’s a wide, ranging disparity, but as the draft has drawn closer, the consensus is inching towards McCarthy winding up as a top 10 pick.
At the front of the draft, there’s a plethora of QB-needy teams like the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots or Washington Commanders. Those teams have all reportedly been in close contact with McCarthy, and one of those organizations may be the frontrunner to select McCarthy in the top five according to NFL.com’s Charles Davis.
In the third edition of his 2024 Mock NFL Draft, Davis predicts that McCarthy will go off the board with the third pick, tagging the Patriots as McCarthy’s professional landing spot.
“SURPRISE! I was convinced for a while that New England would be the future home of Drake Maye, but now I'm questioning that line of thinking. In this projection, after the Pats entertain a bunch of trade offers, they ultimately choose to "run history back" in a sense, selecting another Michigan man to lead them ... albeit 196 draft slots higher than where they took Tom Brady nearly a quarter-century ago.”
As Davis alluded to, McCarthy is in stiff competition with North Carolina’s Drake Maye for the No. 3 position in the draft, but it all depends on what happens before that juncture. If LSU’s Jayden Daniels slips past Washington at No. 2, it would likely alter Davis’ prediction because McCarthy or Maye could jump to that spot instead. However, most signs point to the Commanders drafting Daniels at this stage in the pre-draft process.
Another interesting wrinkle to the draft is the location and drafting position of McCarthy’s former U-M coach— Jim Harbaugh. Now leading the Los Angeles Chargers, Harbaugh is seemingly sitting pretty in the quarterback department with Justin Herbert on the squad. However, Harbaugh has been effusive in his praise for McCarthy up until this point, with many suggesting it’s partially a smokescreen to ensure Harbaugh lands the top non-QB prospect in the draft for the Chargers.
But Harbaugh is a difficult case to crack, and he might’ve had an ulterior plan up his sleeve all along.
According to ESPN BET Live’s Joe Fortenbaugh, the odds for the Chargers to select a QB with their initial selection in the 2024 NFL Draft have skyrocketed from an unrealistic 100/1 at market open to a now-quite possible 6/1 chance.
For that to happen, Harbaugh would need to engineer a trade of some kind. Now, the first half of this year’s first round is expected to be littered with trades, perhaps more so than in previous years, so there will be some shuffling around between organizations tomorrow night. One of the more popular trains of thought revolved around the Minnesota Vikings trading up in the first round to snag McCarthy, but there has been more smoke behind other moves lately.
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If Harbaugh were to stand pat and select McCarthy, his National Championship-winning quarterback, at No. 5 overall, it would mean he likely already has a deal worked out to trade Justin Herbert to another team…as unlikely as that sounds. Herbert is a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback who’s been entrenched with the Chargers for several years, so it would be a bit of a head-scratcher to move in a different direction, but Harbaugh knows exactly what he had in McCarthy at Michigan, and he may be so inclined to run it back in the NFL next season.
Where do you think McCarthy is going to be selected in the 2024 NFL Draft? Let us know and follow @EricJRutter on Twitter for more Wolverine Digest updates.
