J.J. McCarthy heads to playoff team in latest mock draft from The Athletic
The Michigan Wolverines have a chance to have a quarterback drafted in the first round in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft, which hasn’t happened since current head coach Jim Harbaugh was selected by the Chicago Bears with the 26th overall pick in 1987. J.J. McCarthy has a chance to make that happen, and potentially go even higher if some mock draft scenarios come to pass.
One of them comes from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler following the NFL Draft early entry deadline. In his latest mock, he has McCarthy coming off the board with the 19th overall selection to the Los Angeles Rams as the heir apparent to Matthew Stafford.
“Going into Aaron Rodgers’ age-36 season, the Packers made a forward-thinking pick and drafted their quarterback of the future (Jordan Love) in the back half of Round 1,” Brugler said. “Going into Matthew Stafford’s age-36 season, the Rams might be in a position to follow the same approach. Who knows when Stafford will hang ’em up, but with his injury past, the Rams at least need to consider it.
“There is a wide range of opinions on McCarthy’s projection and draft value. Michigan didn’t ask him to consistently push the ball downfield, but he was outstanding on money downs and will have the word ‘winner’ bolded and highlighted in his scouting report (27-1 career record with a national title). Though I think he’ll have mostly second-round grades, McCarthy’s tools and intangibles could get him into the top 25.”
McCarthy could match or eclipse his head coach, but could also fall somewhere into the second round. That would put him in the running to be selected somewhere close to Michigan’s second-highest quarterback selected since Harbaugh in Chad Henne, who went 57th overall to the Miami Dolphins in 2007.
Since then, Michigan has had only a single quarterback drafted. That designation went to Jake Rudock, who was a seventh-round selection of the Detroit Lions in 2016.
Two other Wolverines went in Brugler’s mock with defensive tackle Kris Jenkins coming off the board at No. 37 overall to the Los Angeles Chargers and linebacker Junior Colson heading to the Philadelphia Eagles with the 50th overall pick.
“The Chargers could use a little bit of everything, including depth on the defensive line,” Brugler said. “The son of a four-time Pro Bowler, Jenkins has an interchangeable skill set to play multiple spots at a starter-quality level.”
He said of Colson: “The Eagles must add more talent to their linebacker room — and in this scenario, there hasn’t been an off-ball linebacker drafted yet. With his play style and mentality, Colson would check a lot of boxes.”
Michigan is expected to have a heavy contingent of players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, which is set for April 25-27 from Detroit, Michigan.
