While Caleb Williams of USC and Drake Maye of North Carolina are widely considered the top quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft, new Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh doesn’t think either one of them will be the first quarterback to come off the board this spring.
During a recent appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Jim Harbaugh predicted that J.J. McCarthy – who he coached at Michigan – would be the No. 1 quarterback selected in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft.
“Arm talent, athleticism, ‘it’ factor, winning with numbing repetition. Don’t be surprised when he — if/when he goes to — he’s the No. 1 quarterback off the board. That’s my prediction right now,” Harbaugh said on the show, according to Pro Football Talk.
Jim Harbaugh on J.J. McCarthy:
"Don't be surprised if and when he's the number one QB off the board. That's my prediction right now." pic.twitter.com/58kGRBEt7W
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) February 2, 2024
“When people get a load of J.J., and how he can throw the ball, how he spins it, his athleticism, his intelligence. Talk about ‘it’ factor. He’s got it. The competitiveness that he has. And they get around him, and they really start digging in, and they start talking to him. Yeah, that’s an early prediction for the 2024 NFL draft.”
It’s obviously a pretty insane prediction from Harbaugh, given the discourse around all of the quarterbacks at the moment. But it’s clear that he has a high opinion of the player he’s coached for the past three seasons.
We’ll have to see how Harbaugh’s prediction plays out.
