Pro Football Hall of Famer Charles Woodson would love to see former Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy end up on the Las Vegas Raiders.
Woodson, a Michigan man himself, saw McCarthy lead the Wolverines to an undefeated season and national championship. He’s starting to get more draft buzz as it gets closer to the NFL Draft.
Woodson is a big proponent of the Raiders picking the Michigan quarterback.
“I mean, life couldn’t get more perfect could it,” Woodson said on Mad Dog Sports Radio. “That would be crazy man. Man, I have a ton of respect for JJ McCarthy man, and you know the way he led that Michigan Wolverine team last year … It will take them a little time to acclimate. And he needed a little more time to develop, but, you know, if they were to land that young man, I think his ceiling is very high. And that would be awesome, you know, if he was to don the silver and black.”
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.”
College football analyst Joel Klatt reacted to McCarthy’s showing in Indianapolis, giving his take on where he sees the national champion quarterback landing in the draft and playing at the next level.
“J.J. McCarthy is going to be a really good NFL quarterback, okay? Those of you that want to be a hater of JJ McCarthy, that’s fine,” Klatt said. “I’m gonna be pretty surprised if he’s not drafted in the first 15 picks, I might be surprised if he’s not taken in the top 10. That’s the type of momentum he’s generating.”
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