NFL Network: Why J.J. McCarthy needs to 'show off' at Michigan's Pro Day

The Michigan Wolverines hold their annual pro day for NFL scouts on Friday with the expectation that as many as 150 front personnel from all 32 teams may be in attendance in Ann Arbor. U-M will look to show plenty of players off, but the day may not be as consequential for any prospect in the building than quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

It will also be the return of former head coach Jim Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, now with the Los Angeles Chargers, as they hand the baton off to the new era of Michigan football. The panel of Peter Schrager, Jason McCourty, Kyle Brandt and Colleen Wolfe discussed the Michigan pro day and what’s on the line for McCarthy on Friday morning.

“I think it will be huge and they will blow it out because this is like the Harbaugh era farewell and the handoff to Sherrone Moore,” Schrager said. “So this is his first opportunity to host everybody at campus. And I think JJ’s gonna have to put on a show and it’s gonna be to his top receivers and to his top guys. I’ve heard [Mike Sainristil], who’s one of the defensive backs, might run routes on this one because he wants to show that he can do multiple.

“For me, JJ McCarthy doing throws that you were never asked to do in college because you were playing within the system of Jim Harbaugh, I would like to see that and I would like to see him wow some folks like the USC Pro Day with Caleb [Williams]. I think JJ has even more intrigue, and watch the different logos that are there because I think you’re gonna see all 32 and there might be a team you don’t expect who might fall in love with the quarterback.”

McCourty responded: “I like that you said Michigan’s gonna blow it out because I feel like obviously JJ’’s one of their own and there’s so much fodder being said about him and he wasn’t asked to do this and wasn’t asked to do that for them. Show us the throws that you maybe typically didn’t have to do at Michigan. It’s all on air. So we may look at it and say because JJ can make these passes in perfect conditions, nobody chasing after him, are we going to say that now he’s worthy of a top-five pick because he can do that? Who cares? The fact that he does do it, [is what matters].

“[Analyst] Sean O’Hara was in here yesterday and said if your pro day is perfect, that means you didn’t challenge yourself enough with someone to throw it all over the field. Excellent take for J.J. McCarthy. Do that. Get outside the pocket. Show everything you possibly can at this pro day to prove to people that, Hey, maybe I wasn’t asked to do these things, but you want to see a 70-yard bomb and put the ball right in place. Go ahead and do that. 

“Caleb Williams, a lot of people said after his pro day, well, he didn’t blow it out. He didn’t try to make all of these different throws. He kept it simple. For JJ, do the exact opposite. Go out there and do as much as you possibly can to show them. Because every step of the way we said what he’s done and what he has been asked to do. Just stack another brick on top of that and continue to show the people. “

Brandt has been forthright with potential concerns in McCarthy’s game, but sees the Michigan pro day as an opportunity for him to put his entire skill-set on display. McCarthy has always been a team guy, but he has an opportunity to put on a show at Schembechler Hall.

“I think it’d be probably pretty easy for him to coast through this and do a stock pro day,” Brandt said. “Here are short throws here. Intermediate throws. Here’s this. There’s that. I’d like him to show off and make a splash. I want to show what a good athlete you are. I want to see him doing the reverse pirouettes and changing his field. They have all these things they’ll do. Sometimes they’ll hit you with pads. When you throw, they’ll have the brooms that are up. I just want him to show off the athlete that he is. We know that he can throw a tight spiral and he can hit passes like this. We know that it’s going to be guys that he knows it’s going to be a field that he knows. And maybe he just has a stock pro day, and shoot, maybe the worst thing that happens to him, is he goes the number five overall pick in the draft, and good for you.

“But, I think just there’s this lasting impression. On the NFL’s own website there’s the official breakdown, and it just says things like, ‘Doesn’t have elements that require a top pick, no frame thickness, no plus arm.’ That stuff makes me nervous. Not to draft him, but to draft him that high. If you have a really good arm, rip that sucker today. Let it go. If you have frame thickness, if you’re a good athlete, show us. And then maybe instead of this idea that he might go in the top 10 at the end we say he’s going in the top 10 because all that winning he did was great, but it is now moved down on the conversation. I hate that the conversation with him starts about how many wins he has. Should be the fourth topic, not the first. Maybe he can change that today.”

As far as the topic of how much his winning pedigree matters, Schrager went to bat for the Michigan signal-caller, who was as consistent as they come during his college career.

“The positives are that he went 27-1 in college, I think he lost two games his entire life, is the stat that I’ve heard,” Schrager said. “This guy doesn’t lose football games, and it wasn’t like his team was number one, and they were just a locomotive the whole way through. His team has had college upsets, his team has gone into different places that have been unfriendly environments and has won, and then he has won under crazy situations like his coach being temporarily suspended for a game in Penn State, and they said, go figure this thing out, I know you’re on demand and you don’t have your head coach, And Conor Stallions is doing whatever he’s doing, but you’ve gotta go figure this out and lead us. 

“The stuff that I look at is the fact that his coach, who has seen every quarterback, from Andrew Luck to Tom Brad  to Colin Kaepernick, is like ‘This is the greatest Michigan quarterback who’s ever played, and this is the guy that I want to go to war with.’ Do college wins matter? Do NFL wins matter? I think they matter. Of course they matter. This guy went against Alabama and beat them in a College Football Playoff where they were down 17-13 and he was the dude leading them along the way and made a lot of big plays. 

“I’ll say this Jayden Daniels is the hot name and Jayden Daniels is the sure thing… he’s got the freak athleticism. He’s the Heisman Trophy. Jayden Daniels had one good year. He came from Arizona State and then blew up this year at LSU, and his team didn’t win, and they weren’t great. Yet everyone as a prospect looks at him as the individual and is like, ‘That’s everything we need.’ This is the exact opposite, where McCarthy went 27-1 over the course of his career. Never had that game where he threw for 400 yards. Never had that highlight where it was like, ‘that’s the pass.’

“The question is, what do you prefer? Do you want the one that is maybe a little bit overnight success, but it’s coming in hot, or do you want the guy that over the long period never had that breakthrough, crazy highlight or that crazy moment? I would almost go with the latter. I know he’s been through everything and I know that he has seen everything and he has led his team. I think it matters. I think 27-1 is a real stat and National Champion is a real stat and 15-0 in last season is a real stat. And the fact that he is so beloved by everyone in that building, including his head coach who has seen everybody, it matters. So to me, it’s a major plus point, but I could be all alone on this.”