Mel Kiper Jr. names his biggest wild-card QB in 2024 draft
The pecking order of quarterbacks after USC’ Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye is arguably the most debated topic of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Four additional signal callers have a solid case to go in the first round — LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. — and depending on which scout or draft analyst you listen to, all four could go as high as Round 1 or fall as far as Round 3.
Of the QBs considered to be in the second tier of the 2024 draft, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. believes that McCarthy is the one who’s giving draft evaluators the most difficulty in grading.
“He has the tools to be in the mix for that No. 3 QB spot, but he just didn't convince me down the stretch,” Kiper Jr. said. “Where were the ‘wow’ throws? I didn't see him go through progressions much. … Plus, he wasn't asked to beat teams with his arm, partly because the Wolverines blew out all of their opponents until November.”
On the surface, McCarthy’s stat line looks legit. He has a 74.2 completion percentage, 2,630 yards passing, 19 touchdowns to five interceptions, and he was sacked just 18 times.
The toughest part of projecting McCarthy’s skillset to the NFL is deciphering how much of his success was self-driven and how much was a byproduct of playing for the best team in college football.
The argument against taking him anywhere in the first 32 picks is that for as talented as he is, he may also need the most coaching.
Unless Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh bolts to the NFL and uses his first-round pick on McCarthy, teams could avoid the 20-year-old junior in Round 1 for fear of taking on a “project QB.”
“It's clear McCarthy has a ton of talent, but not all NFL teams are going to be in love with him, which means he could drop to Day 2,” Kiper Jr. added. “I have him as my No. 7 QB right now.”
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