NFL Draft is poker season, and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy might simply be its latest QB bluff

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Three years ago, we saw it play out with Mac Jones at center stage. Two years ago, it was Malik Willis. And last year, we watched it unfold with Will Levis.

The NFL draft’s age-old quarterback bluff.

If you’ve followed the league’s annual sifting process long enough, you likely remember your team being attached to one of these storylines. Maybe it was the Houston Texans being pegged to take Johnny Manziel first overall in 2014, or the San Francisco 49ers’ infamous Aaron Rodgers okey-doke in 2005. Many NFL Drafts have featured tenuous connections between teams and quarterbacks — where the overall pecking order of a class is fluid and marked by one player or another “heating up” or suddenly getting cemented into a specific slot by analysts. It’s how we became certain for a sustained period that Jones was going to the 49ers at the third overall pick in 2021, Willis had solidified first-round status in 2022, and that the Indianapolis Colts were locked onto Levis with the No. 4 overall pick last year.

None of those things happened. And all of them underscore how unreliable information can be when it comes to marrying a quarterback to an NFL team weeks or even months in advance.

That’s a reality that should be hitting home right about now, for a quarterback class that has already gone through multiple stages of certainty. First from an oft-predicted hammerlock 1-2 selection of USC’s Caleb Williams and UNC’s Drake Maye beginning one year ago, then to LSU’s Jayden Daniels jumping into the No. 2 slot behind Williams in recent months, and now — this week — the screaming draft stock of Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy forcing him into the conversation at No. 2 overall, with betting odds following suit.

All of this despite being an entire month away from the draft, which is still an eternity when it comes to solidifying boards. Private team visits are just now starting for the quarterbacks. Medical information is still being processed. And pro days are just…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-03-28 13:44:16

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