J.J. McCarthy NFL Draft Projection: How high can Michigan explosive dual-threat QB go?

J.J. McCarthy will be hearing his name called in the NFL Draft, but when that will be is another question. McCarthy led the Michigan Wolverines to a Big Ten championship last year and another berth in the College Football Playoff.

To begin the 2023 season, McCarthy and the Wolverines are undefeated and look poised to head back to the playoff once again. Although the NFL Draft is not until April, scouts are already starting mock drafts, and the common theme is McCarthy going in the first round.

J.J. McCarthy NFL Draft Projection

At the end of September, CBS Sports updated its 2024 NFL Mock Draft, with McCarthy going seventh overall to the Las Vegas Raiders. CBS writer Josh Edwards had McCarthy as the third quarterback taken off the board behind Caleb Williams and Drake Maye and had this to say about the Michigan QB:

"The jury is still out on J.J. McCarthy. The Bowling Green game was much worse than the prior two. It is known that Las Vegas is going to need a quarterback of the future."

Although the Bowling Green game wasn't a stellar performance from J.J. McCarthy, it was enough for Edwards to move the Wolverines quarterback up from the 14th pick just two weeks prior.

It seems likely that J.J. McCarthy will find himself drafted in the first round, and sneaking into the top 10 is a genuine possibility.

So far this season, McCarthy is 83-for-105 for 1,071 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. Although his stats don't jump off the page, McCarthy's game should translate into the NFL.

The 2024 NFL draft is almost a lock that Caleb Williams and Drake Maye will be the first two quarterbacks taken, but McCarthy being the third QB drafted is likely.

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Jim Harbaugh has compared J.J. McCarthy to Andrew Luck

Although J.J. McCarthy doesn't have the flashy name or style like Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, he still is a very good quarterback.

McCarthy has proven he can help a team win and be smart with the football. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh also believes McCarthy is a generational talent and compared him to former Stanford standout Andrew Luck.

"I hate to compare, right? Because he's very much like Andrew Luck, a quarterback that's once in a generation. I knew it first with Andrew Luck the way he took the field for his first practice as a true freshman. The way he walks on. You see it with other players.

Harbaugh continued:

"Just the presence that they have when they walk onto the field and the first time getting into the quarterback position, the presence that they have you go, ah-ha, there it is. J.J., the first day he walked onto the practice field here at Michigan, that is what came to mind.

"This is very Andrew Luck-like. The presence and the demeanor. The everything. Well-documented, I think J.J. is a once-in-a-generation quarterback here at Michigan or anywhere."

If McCarthy comes anywhere close to being like Andrew Luck in the NFL, whatever team drafts him will have a starting quarterback for years.

Will J.J. McCarthy go to the NFL?

Whether he will enter the NFL Draft this year is not yet known, J.J. McCarthy still has one more year of eligibility left for his college career, and can comfortably declare for the 2025 NFL Draft. Either way, McCarthy is more likely to go to the NFL than not, with the impressive resume he has with the Wolverines.