The Minnesota Vikings have traded up to select Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Vikings traded up to No. 10 from No. 11, giving up a fourth- (No. 129 overall) and fifth-round (No. 157 overall) pick to move up one spot. McCarthy is officially the fifth quarterback taken off the board and is headed to Minnesota. Before McCarthy, USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, UNC’s Drake Maye, and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. were all drafted.
McCarthy will have a tremendous pair of receivers to play with right off the bat, with teammates Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. He will also get to learn under head coach Kevin O’Connell, who has proven to be a good offensive mind for Minnesota.
McCarthy enters the NFL coming off a National Championship-winning season for Michigan. The Wolverines were undefeated in McCarthy’s final season and finally took home the championship.
Despite this win, there are still plenty of question marks surrounding McCarthy as a prospect. Since the Wolverines primarily operated their offense through the run game, there are questions on whether McCarthy can carry a team, especially at the NFL level. On multiple occasions, McCarthy had to attempt few passes for his team to get a win. In a win over Penn State, McCarthy had just eight pass attempts. In the National Championship Game, he only attempted 18 passes. It’s unlikely McCarthy will be able to do this in the NFL.
There’s also the question of whether McCarthy benefitted from having the best team in college football around him. The Wolverines were stacked with both the No. 1 total defense and the No. 1 scoring defense in the FBS in 2023. The Wolverines had a good offensive line and one of the better running games, as well. His team was so talented that Michigan had the most players of any school invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, and could easily have the most players drafted this year.
It’s not McCarthy’s fault that he was part of a good team, but he might not have had the same success he did in college if he didn’t get drafted by a team without a good roster. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
And still, McCarthy has shown plenty of reasons for why he could be successful as a pro. Aside from helping lead a winning team, he was accurate at Michigan, completing 72.3 percent of his passes in his final season.
He also was good at limiting turnovers and interceptions, never throwing more than five interceptions in a season at the college level. He finished his final collegiate season throwing for 2,991 yards, 22 touchdowns, and four interceptions while averaging an impressive 9.0 yards per attempt.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.