JJ McCarthy is on top of the world, and Zach Wilson is very much not. With Michigan’s historic win during the college football season, McCarthy became an overnight sensation in the NFL world. Zach Wilson, however, couldn’t have had a worse first season as a starter. However, there’s a similarity between these two quarterbacks, both in different timelines of their football careers.
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As Colin Cowherd pointed out during his podcast, this similarity is not good news for McCarthy. The Michigan star seemingly has everything going on for him. While Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels were the leading quarterbacks in the mix for the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, McCarthy has become a contest for these quarterbacks, per NFL Network. Reports have emerged that the Commanders are likely to pick the Michigan QB as the second overall pick after the annual league meetings concluded.
However, analyst Cowherd took to his podcast ‘The Herd‘ to explain how this could spell disaster for the young QB. Drawing a parallel to Jets QB Zach Wilson, Cowherd painted an unfortunate picture of what could end up happening to McCarthy’s currently very promising career, if he ends up with the wrong team.
“This is starting to feel like Zach Wilson of the Jets, where he has a couple of throws on his pro day. We start going “ooh, his arm, oh he moves well, there’s a lot of zip”. Both he and Zach Wilson are 6’3″, and in my opinion, a little spindly. I don’t know. JJ McCarthy’s college experience is not the NFL.”
According to the analyst, the current hype around McCarthy has everything to do with his recent achievements and nothing to do with his individual abilities. As he says, “JJ McCarthy’s college experience is not the NFL.” Cowherd says,
“You go from the best college O-line to the worst NFL O-line. You go from the first or second best run game in college to the 27th run game. It would be the opposite of your Michigan experience.”
Highlighting his stats, Cowherd points out that McCarthy has average stats at best, considering he played with a great O-line and defensive line in Michigan. However, as is to be expected, the situation is not going to be that ideal in the NFL, especially if he ends up going to Washington, which has the second pick and has the 32nd-ranked O-line, a stark difference from his Wolverine days.
Where Will JJ McCarthy Go?
A month ahead of the Draft, McCarthy’s stock is rising. From a second-round pick at best to now projected to be the second pick overall is quite the leap and as Cowherd points out, it’s all because of Michigan’s college championship win and his performance at the Scouting Combine; everything the analyst rightly says shouldn’t be indicative of his abilities as a ‘game-changing’ QB.
In his latest NFL mock draft, NFL Media’s Bucky Brooks has the Patriots staying at No. 3 — and taking McCarthy as their QB of the future over Maye, who ends up falling to the Vikings at No. 11. This comes after more than a month of consensus that UNC’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels are regarded as superior to McCarthy, with both expected to be chosen within the top three picks.
But with the latest update, there’s a possibility that New England might not even get the opportunity to select McCarthy. According to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero’s report on Monday at the NFL’s annual meeting in Orlando, the Commanders have their sights set on JJ. If this were to happen, is McCarthy destined to walk on Zach Wilson’s steps?
