J.J. McCarthy opens up on his meeting with Las Vegas Raiders

Former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy wrapped up his time at the NFL Scouting Combine on Sunday after meetings with the numerous teams who could draft him next month. In that group of teams is the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Raiders currently have the third-best odds of being the team drafting the former Wolverine in the first round. They have the No. 13 overall pick. McCarthy opened up on that meeting with the Raiders to reporters this week.

“It went really well,” McCarthy said. “I loved all the coaches; great energy, great questions, great interaction. It would mean a lot to play with those guys, but it would mean a lot to play with any one of the great players in the NFL, but it was awesome.”

McCarthy also had a good first impression of new Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce. Pierce took over the team after they decided to move on from Josh McDaniels in early November.

“Amazing dude,” McCarthy said. “He asked so many great questions, definitely somebody I could see myself playing for.”

NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported after the combine that McCarthy was among the group of prospects who boosted their stock in Indianapolis.

“Everyone loves the intangibles, loves that leadership, loves the winning, as I know you do,” Rapoport said to Michigan alumni Rich Eisen on NFL Network. “Wondered kind of what he could do? How could he throw it? I would say there’s a pretty good chance that he is the fourth quarterback taken, a lot closer to the top three than maybe we all imagined.”

Matt Miller rates McCarthy’s combine performance

McCarthy entered the Combine coming off a national championship season but having thrown the ball less during his college career than many of the other quarterbacks entering this year’s draft. He did throw at the NFL Combine to give teams a look at what he can do. NFL draft analyst Matt Miller thought he had an up-and-down performance.

“You saw the throw to the right there looked beautiful, throwing to his left was a lot more uneven during the workout. He settled down nicely, calmed down and found his rhythm,” Miller said. “They are throwing to unfamiliar targets, these wide receivers that they’ve not played with before. So, McCarthy has some room to grow I think at his Pro Day later this month. Could still be one of those top 10 picks once we get to the first round.”

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.