The 2024 NFL Scouting Combine is now in the past, and one observation coming out of Indianapolis is that there is more excitement and interest in former Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy.
While former USC QB Caleb Williams is nearly certain to be the top selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, the expectation has been that Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels will be the next two quarterbacks taken. Coming out of the NFL Combine, however, McCarthy is starting to get some buzz as potentially the third quarterback taken in the 2024 NFL Draft.
NFL Draft Rumors: Could J.J. McCarthy Be the Third Quarterback Drafted?
Going into the NFL Combine, it seemed almost guaranteed that Daniels would be the third quarterback off the board. However, according to Benjamin Solak of The Ringer, that might not necessarily be the case.
“It is smoke-screen season, and I very well may be getting hooked by it. But in Indianapolis, I heard significantly more interest and excitement for how high Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy might go relative to how high LSU QB Jayden Daniels might go,” Solak wrote.
“My sense is that Daniels is not locked into an early draft slot and that the league has turned its attention elsewhere. McCarthy is a strong candidate to go before Daniels in April.”
McCarthy, while guiding Michigan to a College Football Playoff National Championship this past college football season after taking down Washington in January, does not have eye-popping statistics in comparison to Daniels, but Solak says McCarthy could potentially crack the top three.
Solak isn’t the only analyst who wouldn’t be surprised by McCarthy being an early first-round selection, however. ESPN analyst and former NFL executive Louis Riddick said that personnel people think “J.J. McCarthy is going top-five.”
In PFN’s Tony Catalina’s 2024 NFL Mock Draft, McCarthy gets selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the eighth overall pick. With McCarthy’s performance at the Combine, that, however, may change.
In addition to the Falcons, there are quite a handful of quarterback-needy teams in the top 10 picks of the NFL Draft. It starts with the Chicago Bears, who seem poised to move on from Justin Fields to select Williams, and then you have the Washington Commanders, New England Patriots, and New York Giants who could all be in the market for a new franchise quarterback.
KEEP READING: NFL Draft Rumors — Patriots Could Make Shocking QB Pick at Third Overall
Outside of the top 10 picks, you have teams such as the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, and Las Vegas Raiders as well, with each of them also being a trade-up candidate.
The buzz of McCarthy’s improving draft stock appears to be real, but as Solak mentioned, you also have to remember that it is smoke-screen season, and that won’t be over until the 2024 NFL Draft is complete.
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