Two Michigan players taken in first round of NFL.com mock draft
Michigan Wolverines football quarterback J.J. McCarthy is a consensus first-round 2024 NFL Draft pick according to prognosticators. He’s been the lone first-rounder in every recent mock draft, until NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein placed U-M wide receiver Roman Wilson No. 31 overall to the Kansas City Chiefs in his projection that was released Feb. 5.
The Chiefs, who badly need wide receivers, will take on the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII Feb. 11. Since the 49ers are favored to win, Zierlein listed them as having the final pick in the first round, but that spot would go to Kansas City should the AFC representative repeat as champions.
Zierlein is the 11th-most accurate analyst among mock draft projectors, ahead of the likes of ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah and other prominent names.
“The Chiefs seem to always be looking for receivers, and Wilson would be a home run for them,” Zierlein wrote. “He’s a smooth athlete with the speed to separate.”
Wilson saw his stock rise last week at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., despite sitting out the game on Saturday. He flashed the first two days of practice. Analyst Todd McShay was impressed with his week, he explained on the ‘Ryen Russillo Podcast.’
“[Michigan uses] a lot of tight ends. The production’s not there. He had only 48 catches this past year,” McShay pointed out. “But Roman Wilson is explosive, and he showed it throughout the week. He stood out as a different level of speed and playmaking ability.”
Wilson led Michigan with 48 catches for 789 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2023, helping the team win the national championship for the 12th time in program history. The Hawai’i native totaled 107 grabs, 1,707 receiving yards and 20 touchdown catches during his four-year career in Ann Arbor.
McCarthy, the man who threw to Wilson at Michigan, checked in No. 12 to the Denver Broncos. Denver may move on from quarterback Russell Wilson, who was benched at the end of the 2023 campaign in favor of Jarrett Stidham, this offseason. Head coach Sean Payton and Co. will need to pick up a cheap quarterback (such as a rookie like McCarthy), since they’re expected to take an $85 million dead-money salary cap hit if they follow through with cutting Wilson.
“NFL evaluators have described McCarthy’s processing as ‘elite’ in my conversations with them,” Zierlein wrote. “[Former New Orleans Saints quarterback] Drew Brees was a great processer, but he didn’t have the same athletic ability that McCarthy offers. This just feels like a Sean Payton pick.”
The 6-foot-3, 202-pounder was named first-team All-Big Ten and became Michigan’s first-ever winner of the Griese-Brees Big Ten Quarterback of the Year award this past season. He completed 240 of his 332 passes (72.2 percent) for 2,991 yards and 22 touchdowns with 4 interceptions. He added 64 rushes for 202 yards and 3 scores.
