The NFL Appears to be Higher on JJ McCarthy than the General Public; NFC Team has him QB2 in the Draft

[Fountain City Blues]

 

[Xeliou66]

This is absurd to me - if McCarthy goes in the first round I’ll be shocked - he hasn’t done much at all - his numbers just aren’t impressive and he’s a game manager QB, he’s never going to be an NFL franchise QB IMO. I thought it was kind of ridiculous that Anthony Richardson was taken so high last year despite being pretty unproven, but at least he has dynamic athletic ability. What does McCarthy bring? He’s just a routine game manager QB. I would take Williams, Maye, Daniels, Penix and Nix over him.

 

[Stlducks]

The QB's in this draft do not look like superstars (not even Williams) and McCarthy still looks like the 4th or 5th best option.

 

[redskinsfan1963]

washington hopefully takes him and picks tackle or guard at 2

 

[Clayton]

I'm not ridiculously surprised by this considering his age relative to the rest of the class. It looks like the one knock I've seen on his college film is that while he has a strong arm that his deep ball isnt very good. Thats fixable. If you look at someone like Penix, he has a good deep ball but major medical red flags and his age suggests that he is almost fully developed. I guess the thing on Nix is that his arm talent isnt as good as some of the other guys and he is also probably a system QB.

I kinda wouldn't be shocked if he went pick 5 and the Chargers traded down. Once you poke holes in Penix and Nix then that leaves McCarthy. We're in the lying season right now, though, so I'm not putting much stock in him going #2.

 

[ducky]

The NFL has drafted Kenny Pickett, Dwayne Haskins, Josh Rosen, and Paxton Lynch in the 1st round and not 1 of those guys was a first round QB either. So it is possible. The NFL doesnt have a good track record when it comes to this type of thing.

....and my personal favorite 3rd round QB prospect taken in the 1st round was Christian Ponder.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

The NFL has drafted Kenny Pickett, Dwayne Haskins, Josh Rosen, and Paxton Lynch in the 1st round and not 1 of those guys was a first round QB either. So it is possible. The NFL doesnt have a good track record when it comes to this type of thing.

....and my personal favorite 3rd round QB prospect taken in the 1st round was Christian Ponder.

Not gonna lie, when I saw the tweet, I thought "Vikings and Ponder all over again."

 

[ducky]

The one thing that NFL teams are really, really, really bad at realizing is that taking the WRONG 1st round QB is 1000 times worse than not taking a QB at all.

More often than not it completely stops you from drafting a QB the following 2 or 3 seasons and there often is a time when you are then passing on a legit QB prospect in the future because you still have your fingers crossed on a poor decision.

 

[belcherboy]

Yeah, I see JJ being, at best, the 5th QB taken in this draft. I think that would land him somewhere in the 2nd round. Realistically, I think he lands in the 3rd round.

Although Kiper has him going in the 1st round:

 

[Clayton]

The one thing that NFL teams are really, really, really bad at realizing is that taking the WRONG 1st round QB is 1000 times worse than not taking a QB at all.

More often than not it completely stops you from drafting a QB the following 2 or 3 seasons and there often is a time when you are then passing on a legit QB prospect in the future because you still have your fingers crossed on a poor decision.

Missing out on the right QB is the worst thing that can happen to a franchise imo. Its just that there are only 1 or 2 of those in every draft. If that.

I think teams are pretty good at moving on from bad QBs. Average QBs? Not so much.

 

[cincygrad]

Sorta reminds me of the old saying "the only guy that could hold Jordan under 20 was Dean Smith." Now, McCarthy is not a generational talent like Jordan, but his passing numbers were clearly held back by Harbaugh and the system that Michigan ran to great effect over the past two seasons. 22 passes a game says a lot about his opportunities at Michigan.

But here's the thing.... The guy was poised and ready in big moments and won big games for his team. His arm talent is first round worthy and he is athletic enough to use his legs to pick up first downs. He is also young and still developing. So, to me, you're getting a phenomenal leader, a winner, a guy with untapped physical talent and the head to play the position. Please show me where Pickett, Haskins, Ponder, or any other guy has the sort of accomplishments and resume that you can find with McCarthy. You can say one of the Bama quarterbacks like McCarron or Mack are similar (all winners), but those guys weren't nearly as athletically talented as McCarthy.

I'm bullish on him.

 

[Robotech]

This is absurd to me - if McCarthy goes in the first round I’ll be shocked - he hasn’t done much at all - his numbers just aren’t impressive and he’s a game manager QB, he’s never going to be an NFL franchise QB IMO. I thought it was kind of ridiculous that Anthony Richardson was taken so high last year despite being pretty unproven, but at least he has dynamic athletic ability. What does McCarthy bring? He’s just a routine game manager QB. I would take Williams, Maye, Daniels, Penix and Nix over him.

This is probably because I only watch a little bit of college football, but I didn't even know who J.J. McCarthy was until I watched this year's CFP. However, I did know about all of those other guys already.

 

[cwalke3408]

This is absurd to me - if McCarthy goes in the first round I’ll be shocked - he hasn’t done much at all - his numbers just aren’t impressive and he’s a game manager QB, he’s never going to be an NFL franchise QB IMO. I thought it was kind of ridiculous that Anthony Richardson was taken so high last year despite being pretty unproven, but at least he has dynamic athletic ability. What does McCarthy bring? He’s just a routine game manager QB. I would take Williams, Maye, Daniels, Penix and Nix over him.

To be fair college stats doesn't necessary translate to if a QB will succeed in the NFL or not. People said the same about Herbert's college stats and numbers coming into the league. Arm talent, build, decision making, mobility, etc is what teams are really looking for and JJ has a lot of those qualities

 

[HaroldSeattle]

The one thing that NFL teams are really, really, really bad at realizing is that taking the WRONG 1st round QB is 1000 times worse than not taking a QB at all.

More often than not it completely stops you from drafting a QB the following 2 or 3 seasons and there often is a time when you are then passing on a legit QB prospect in the future because you still have your fingers crossed on a poor decision.

Not at all correct. You go with a rookie QB your team has a 30 to 50 million cap advantage to improve the roster. Take Levis with the Titans, his cap hit is 2.1 million, while mediocre QBs like say Carr has a 35.7 cap hit, Geno has a 31 million cap hit, Daniel Jones has 47.1 cap hit, Watson has 63.9 cap hit. I'd take my chances with Levis and if I had doubts about him I would keep stocking rookie QBs similar to what the Packers do. The BIGGEST MISTAKE is paying up for mediocre QBs.

 

[Yankee Traveler]

Missing out on the right QB is the worst thing that can happen to a franchise imo.

Got Bill Belichick fired.

 

[WNY_FOOTBALL_DUDE]

For the record, I have Daniels as QB1 and McCarthy as QB2. As I said before, people are unfairly docking him for the system he played in. Just like the media did with Mahomes and Love. Two quarterbacks I was extremely high on coming out of college. For me, I think he's extremely athletic and throws the ball with precision and accuracy. It will be interesting to see how well he throws the deep ball at the combine and pro day. And yes, I think age is going to be a driving factor. It took Penix and Nix about 5 to 6 seasons to look great.

 

[sharkymcwrath]

The QB's in this draft do not look like superstars (not even Williams) and McCarthy still looks like the 4th or 5th best option.

I know it's college and not the NFL but Daniels highlight videos look pretty darned impressive.

 

[Clayton]

For the record, I have Daniels as QB1 and McCarthy as QB2. As I said before, people are unfairly docking him for the system he played in. Just like the media did with Mahomes and Love. Two quarterbacks I was extremely high on coming out of college. For me, I think he's extremely athletic and throws the ball with precision and accuracy. It will be interesting to see how well he throws the deep ball at the combine and pro day. And yes, I think age is going to be a driving factor. It took Penix and Nix about 5 to 6 seasons to look great.

Not sure I see any real comparison to Mahomes and McCarthy. If anything, Kliff Kingsbury being on USC points to a different QB

 

[WNY_FOOTBALL_DUDE]

Not sure I see any real comparison to Mahomes and McCarthy. If anything, Kliff Kingsbury being on USC points to a different QB

My big thing here is: Don't dock a player for the system they are in. Love got docked way too much by the media for playing with 7 new starters, a terrible defense (like Mahomes did at Texas Tech), and having a brand new HC and OC. The system McCarthy was in, is the main criticism of him, and I don't believe that's an intelligent take on the kid. I could very well move him downward if he doesn't show strong deep ball accuracy. Another player I higher on than most is Spencer Rattler. For me, I am just not buying into Caleb Williams and Drake Maye being superstars.

 

[Ojb81]

Yeah, I see JJ being, at best, the 5th QB taken in this draft. I think that would land him somewhere in the 2nd round. Realistically, I think he lands in the 3rd round.

Although Kiper has him going in the 1st round:

View attachment 354604

he's 6'3"??? for some reason, watching him, it felt like he was smaller than that.