Colin Cowherd: Why You Shouldn't Draft J.J. McCarthy
Colin Cowherd: “I would say about every third draft there is a ‘star' quarterback that is going to be a first-round quarterback and I just don't get it. Tebow, Johnny Manziel, Mitch Trubisky, Daniel Jones, Zach Wilson -- I just didn't get it, and I was right on all of them.
Don't confuse that with Baker Mayfield. I said 'that's a starting quarterback in the NFL.' I still think he's one of the 20 best quarterbacks on the planet. I thought he was a bit immature, I didn't think he was ready to be a number one pick, I didn't think he was that talented; I thought it was a reach. Daniel Jones I didn't buy at all, but Baker has talent. He wouldn't have been the guy I would have drafted number one, but he's got talent, don't confuse with that.
My quarterback this year that is a ‘star’ and I don’t get it is J.J. McCarthy of Michigan. I think he’s Mitch Trubisky with a better college coach. He’s mobile, he’s a nice kid, but his ball dies, and he misses easy stuff; he misses too many layups. Unless his feet are pointed in the right direction, he’s set, he’s got time, and he can look down his receiver, he’s not that accurate consistently. I just don’t see it.
What I just described: protection, your feet are set, you’ve got everything ready to deliver, you’ve got space... That’s MICHIGAN, that’s not the NFL. At Michigan you had perfect protection. The kid got sacked almost never. In 13-14 games I think he got sacked like 17 times, once a game. He played with the lead, he had a run-game – that is NOT the NFL. What are you when stuff implodes, when you have to throw moving left, or uncomfortable in a muddy pocket? Even Drew Brees who didn't have the big arm and wasn't hyper-athletic, or Brady, we're constantly moving within the pocket, and constantly having to throw when they were uncomfortable. That’s not Michigan. McCarthy is not that big, his arm is pretty average.
This was The Ringer's Ben Solak on J.J. McCarthy:
‘There are some real red flags on his profile. I found his accuracy to the outside really wanting, especially to the left. His velocity starts to tail off. The red flags don’t preclude J.J. from NFL success, but they make him seem a little scheme-specific.’
It’s very Trubisky, that’s what I see, which is worrisome and his mechanics start to crumble as well. I think he works in Minnesota with Kevin O’Connell, Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ Hockenson, and a great left tackle. I think he can work in Minnesota but I don’t think he’s a top five guy ever, and I see a lot of Trubisky. He is my ‘I DON’T SEE IT’ quarterback, I’ll say it right now. I like Caleb and Jayden Daniels. I get the traits of Drake Maye, I think Bo Nix works if he gets Sean Payton, I think Penix can work if he can get Mike McDaniel, or that Seattle situation where the college OC is the Seahawks OC. But the JJ one; boy, it's got to land perfect for it to work in my opinion.
Jordan Palmer, who does this for a living; he's worked with Mahomes, Allen, and Burrow -- here were his thoughts on JJ McCarthy as a prospect:
'Before each game at Michigan when Harbaugh is hitting his pads and all that stuff in pregame, there was an understanding that they were going to rush for over 250 yards that day. Had we seen games that they asked him to throw it 40 times and he just completed half of them and threw two picks, then it would be different, but that never happened. When you're drafting anyone at the top you have to make assumptions because we can't see how they were in the NFL. Different than in free agency where you can literally look at how you stack up against NFL defenses. We can't do that in the Draft. That's why it's an imperfect science.'
I think Jordan has the same concerns I do, I talked to an NFL scout last night. He's my 'I don't quite see it.' Not saying it can't work, but it would all have to line up perfectly to work to any degree. That's my opinion on JJ McCarthy.
Watch Colin Cowherd of FS1’s The Herd explain why he doesn’t understand the hype around former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, saying a guy like McCarthy that lacks size and who throws a ball ‘that dies’ shouldn’t warrant a first-round grade, let alone someone who might be selected in the top three of Thursday’s 2024 NFL Draft.
Check out the segment above as Colin compares McCarthy to former busts the likes of Tim Tebow, Johnny Manziel, and Zach Wilson, saying McCarthy’s game reminds him of NFL punchline Mitch Trubisky, who was the first quarterback selected in a 2017 Draft that saw him picked ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.
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