Michigan Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy has quickly risen up draft boards. But it turns out, not everyone is buying into the hype that surrounds him, which an AFC scout made clear in a recent interview.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote a detailed piece on where each quarterback prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft ranks in terms of tiers, speaking to a number of NFL scouts and offensive coordinators to get their opinions on the prospect.
When it came to McCarthy, one AFC scout who chose to remain anonymous shared his opinion, saying that he “doesn’t buy” the hype that has come along with him throughout the pre-draft process.
“I just don’t see it,” the scout told Fowler. “I don’t see consistent accuracy, his ability to get it done inside the white lines, and [the Michigan staff] didn’t call games or play offensively like they trusted him.”
Of all the quarterbacks projected to go near the top of the draft, McCarthy is the one who had the least amount of success when it came to his individual statistics.
He just simply wasn’t asked to do as much as players like Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, and Michael Penix Jr. in terms of how much of the load he had to shoulder in Michigan’s offense.
Only time will tell whether McCarthy does translate to the NFL level successfully. He certainly does have his fair share of believers, including his former college coach Jim Harbaugh who has called him the “best quarterback in the draft class”.
But it is also very clear that his collegiate film doesn’t have everyone sold that he will end up being a star in the NFL.
[ESPN]
