Tom Brady vs J.J. McCarthy: Is Jim Harbaugh's 'greatest Michigan QB' legit? Statistical comparison (2024)

Tom Brady is perhaps the best quarterback to ever grace the NFL. But before he began his career with the New England Patriots, he was the quarterback for the Michigan Wolverines.

But in 2024, another name from the Wolverines is being described as the “best ever” to come out of the Michigan program: quarterback J.J McCarthy, who could win the first national championship for the Wolverines since 1997.

How do the college careers of these two Wolverines greats compare?

Tom Brady at Michigan

Brady played for Michigan between the years of 1996 and 1999. During his time in Ann Arbor, he played 29 games. He threw for 4,773 yards, with a completion percentage of 61.9%, along with 30 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Brady won 20 games.

The greatest game of Brady's college career in terms of statistics was during his junior year against Ohio State. He threw for 375 yards and completed 31 of 56 passing attempts. At the time, that set a Wolverines' record for passing completions. It's now sixth.

Brady led the Wolverines to victories in the 1999 Citrus Bowl and the 2000 Orange Bowl, which was his final game before being picked at No. 199 by the New England Patriots.

J.J McCarthy's Wolverines career

McCarthy has been with Michigan since 2021, playing 27 games. He has thrown for 6,086 yards, with a completion percentage of 67.9%, along with 49 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

McCarthy has won 26 of the games he has started, including the recent 27-20 win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl. The only loss in his career came in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl to TCU.

How do Tom Brady and J.J. McCarthy compare?

From looking at the numbers, it is clear. While Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback to come out of Michigan, he is not the greatest quarterback to play for Michigan. While it's unknown what will happen in the professional career of J.J. McCarthy, he has been a far better player on all metrics in college.

But is it right to compare two players from two different eras? In Brady's time, the college football landscape was completely different. Comparing these two players, while is a nice thing to do considering their legacies at Michigan, does not add a lot of the dialogue of who is better, as college football is a completely different sport to what it was in the late 1990s.