J.J. McCarthy

Patriots To Host QBs Jayden Daniels, J.J. McCarthy

April 5th, 2024 at 10:21pm CST by Ely Allen

The holders of the No. 3 overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Patriots have been doing their homework to determine who they will bring in from the college ranks. With former starting quarterback Mac Jones getting traded to the Jaguars, the focus has been on quarterbacks. After hosting North Carolina passer Drake Maye today, New England made sure to schedule visits with two of the draft’s other top quarterbacks, as well, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

Breer tells us that LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels will be the first to follow Maye with a visit immediately after the weekend. Daniels will be in town on Monday for dinner before taking his “30” visit the following day at Gillette Stadium. Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy will be the third quarterback to take a visit, scheduling his trip for the week after Daniels’ visit.

With the third pick of the draft, and Caleb Williams being nearly cemented into the No. 1 overall pick, the Patriots are virtually guaranteed that at least two of the above visitors will be available when it’s their turn to pick. So, in theory, if the team decides following these visits that they would be happy drafting any two of the visiting quarterbacks, that’s all the research they would need to do. There’s no harm in doing as much research as possible, and there’s always a possibility that the Patriots trade back into the first round after their first pick, so they still may continue to bring in future visitors.

Most mock drafts at this point in time, though, tend to predict quarterbacks being selected with each of the draft’s first four picks. With Williams almost certainly headed to Chicago, New England should have its pick of whomever the Commanders don’t select between Maye, Daniels, and McCarthy.

Any of the three would enter New England with a clear chance at the starting quarterback position. Following Jones’ departure, the Patriots currently roster Jacoby Brissett, Bailey Zappe, and Nathan Rourke at quarterback. All three passers provide New England with starting options at the position if their potential rookie pick isn’t ready to take the reins.

Brissett, returning to the team that drafted him for the first time since his rookie season, held his own as a starter during stints with the Colts and Browns. Zappe has started eight games in replacement of Jones over his first two seasons. Rourke has starting experience from his standout season in the Canadian Football League but has yet to make his debut in the NFL.

Regardless, the first opportunity to start will likely go to whomever the team drafts at No. 3 overall, assuming of course that that player is a quarterback. Yesterday’s visit with Maye, in conjunction with the upcoming visits with Daniels and McCarthy, should give New England the perfect opportunity to decide the order of preference for the three, in hopes that their top option will be available after picks by Chicago and Washington.

Latest On 2024 First-Round Quarterbacks

April 3rd, 2024 at 10:15pm CST by Ely Allen

In a recent article for The Washington Post, NFL insider and analyst Jason La Canfora provided his projection for how the first-round quarterbacks may play out in this year’s draft. After the seemingly obvious prediction of USC quarterback Caleb Williams to Chicago, La Canfora declared a somewhat more surprising projection: national championship-winning Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy going second overall to the Commanders.

The first reasoning that La Canfora points to is the betting markets. Though betting odds are fickle and often change at the slightest whims, they can quite often predict the likeliest outcome, and right now, McCarthy’s odds of getting picked right after Williams are skyrocketing. Secondarily, La Canfora points to an evaluator who compared McCarthy to “another (Brock) Purdy.”

New Commanders general manager Adam Peters comes from the 49ers front office that selected Purdy as the last pick of the draft two years ago. If McCarthy is demonstrating the attributes that drew Peters and company to Purdy, that also helps the Michigan passer’s chances of heading to Washington. Unfortunately, that same brain trust in San Francisco was responsible for the trade to move up for Trey Lance, so Peters’ history with picking quarterbacks may be hit or miss.

La Canfora also claims that the Giants are highest on McCarthy over the other remaining quarterbacks after Williams is drafted, but if he goes to the Commanders, as La Canfora predicts, New York will have to settle for another option: LSU Heisman-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels.

La Canfora doesn’t take it as fact that Daniels is headed to New York, though. He reports that the Raiders, who currently hold the 13th overall pick of the first round, “badly want to move up” to land Daniels. This rumor makes a ton of sense when you consider that Las Vegas’ head coach Antonio Pierce got an up-close look at Daniels when the two were together at Arizona State for several years. The team isn’t very well-positioned to make the move, but according to two general managers in the league, the Raiders are making the effort, nonetheless.

Aside from those two bigger predictions, La Canfora’s projection is fairly in-line with what we’ve been seeing. He predicts that the first four picks will be quarterbacks (Williams to Chicago, McCarthy to Washington, Daniels to New York, and North Carolina passer Drake Maye to Minnesota [via trade]), he sees the Raiders settling for Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. if they can’t trade up, and he sees Oregon quarterback Bo Nix becoming the fifth first-round quarterback of the draft thanks to the Ravens trading down so that the Broncos can select him 30th overall.

This all continues a wild runup to what is certainly shaping up to be an unpredictable 2024 NFL Draft. A top-heavy quarterback draft class has provided pundits and analysts alike with myriad predictions for how everything will play out. With a little over three weeks until the all-important date, the sequence of events following the No. 1 overall pick is unclear as ever.

Latest On Giants, QB J.J. McCarthy

March 29th, 2024 at 10:07am CST by Sam Robinson

A fast-rising prospect — or so it would seem during this year’s pre-draft process — J.J. McCarthy may not be available by the time the Giants go on the clock at No. 6. The team has explored a trade-up, which may be necessary if it is serious about acquiring a Daniel Jones replacement this year.

The Giants will head into the draft with a pivotal decision. Jones is under contract through 2026, but his guarantees wrap after the 2024 campaign. With this New York regime not having drafted Jones, an opportunity could be in place to grab its own passer and begin building around him. Many around the NFL believe the Giants’ QB target would be McCarthy, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano notes.

Giants-McCarthy connections emerged in early March, and in the weeks since, the Michigan prospect has become a likely top-10 pick. The Vikings have since obtained a second first-round pick, and the team is almost definitely looking to package its two first-rounders (Nos. 11 and 27) to climb up for a passer. That package could put Minnesota in position to leapfrog the Giants, with both the Cardinals and Chargers — who already employ Pro Bowl quarterbacks — being linked to moving down. As a result of the Vikings’ move, the Giants may need to be prepared to trade up as well.

The Giants have already hosted McCarthy on a “30” visit; they are set to observe a private workout Sunday. New York is also doing extensive homework on Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels. The latter will visit the Big Apple soon. Maye has already visited the Giants, and the ex-North Carolina passer is also set to work out for the team soon. While Maye has been a fixture near the top of draft boards, he has also been docked a bit during the pre-draft process. Maye’s second season as the Tar Heels’ starter did not measure up to his first, and ESPN.com’s Matt Miller adds multiple teams view McCarthy as a better prospect. Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest ESPN.com big board ranks Maye seventh and McCarthy 14th.

This is, of course, smokescreen season. Recent Giants drafts can reveal misdirection as well; in 2022, strong Giants connections to Charles Cross came about, but the team chose Evan Neal. But the Giants will not have their pick of the top QBs in this draft. The Commanders continue to be connected to Daniels at No. 2, but a recent report also tied them to McCarthy. Considering McCarthy’s profile and less prolific college career, it would be surprising if he went in front of Daniels or Maye. But he impressed at the Wolverines’ pro day; buzz about this draft now including four high-end QB prospects has since began to circulate.

John Mara has endorsed Jones consistently, and the current New York starter is on track to be back from his ACL tear by training camp. But the Giants can escape the widely criticized four-year, $160MM contract by taking on modest dead money in 2025. Mara also OK’d a Giants first-round QB, and the Joe Schoen-led front office informed the owner this draft features the best QB crop in “a long time,” ESPN’s Jordan Raanan adds. That would raise the stakes for the Giants, who will need to weigh this year’s QB class against the 2025 group and against a future with one of this year’s impact wide receivers.

The Giants could leave this draft with a new WR1 in place around Jones — who has not exactly been given good wideout situations during his career — without trading up, but QB connections persist. With teams like the Broncos and Raiders also tied to potential trade-ups for passers, the Giants are a key team to monitor ahead of the draft.

QBs Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy To Work Out For Giants

March 28th, 2024 at 2:04pm CST by Adam La Rose

Pro Days are continuing around the country this week, and the Giants are one of many teams with a large contingent attending Washington’s today. While that will entail evaluations of quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (among many others), the team still has Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy on its radar.

The former will conduct a private workout with the Giants in the coming days, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reports. Head coach Brian Daboll is one of the Giants’ evaluators at the Huskies Pro Day, but the team will no doubt regroup by the time Maye joins them. McCarthy, meanwhile, will be watched by New York during a private throwing session on Sunday, per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.

A report from last week indicated both passers already held a ’30’ visit with the Giants. As such, it comes as no surprise the team will take a longer look at them. Set to select sixth overall, New York is in an interesting position given the potential to add a long-term Daniel Jones replacement on one hand and a true No. 1 receiver on the other. Jones is in place atop a QB depth chart which also includes Drew Lock for the 2024 campaign, but the position is unsettled beyond that.

Jones’ injury history has given New York pause about keeping him as a starter through the duration of his four-year, $160MM deal signed last offseason. Owner John Mara is on board with selecting a quarterback sixth overall (or potentially higher, if the team moves up the board slightly). A trade down is also a possibility, of course, but that would leave the team out of range of the top signal-callers.

Maye and McCarthy are the focus of many teams these days, with Caleb Williams being the only presumed sure thing at the top of the board at this point. Chicago is on track to select the 2022 Heisman winner first overall, but there is plenty of uncertainty with respect to whom the Commanders and Patriots will add. The Cardinals and Chargers are not in need of a quarterback, something which would limit the Giants’ wide receiver options if they were to retain the fourth and fifth slots, respectively.

Both Arizona and Los Angeles are open to trading down, though, and teams like the Vikings, Broncos and Raiders have been connected to an aggressive move in search of a passer. New York remains at the heart of the QB evaluation for now, as the team continues to do its due diligence at the position.

Latest On Commanders’ QB Plans; J.J. McCarthy In Play At No. 2 Overall?

March 25th, 2024 at 10:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

Dan Quinn effectively confirmed the long-held expectation the Commanders will be likely to draft a quarterback this year. While the new Washington HC did not indicate that move would necessarily come at No. 2 overall, that should be expected.

Which passer the NFC East team will take may be this year’s most intriguing first-round development. With the Bears almost definitely set to draft Caleb Williams first overall, a Jayden Daniels-or-Drake Maye question persists for the Commanders. But the J.J. McCarthy rise may have reached the point where Washington’s No. 2 draft slot pertains to the recent national championship-winning passer.

A number of executives at this week’s league meetings view McCarthy as the most likely Commanders choice at No. 2, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero offers (video link). This would certainly be a considerable jump from where McCarthy was viewed as Michigan’s unbeaten season wound down, but the 21-year-old prospect has continued to climb during the pre-draft process.

McCarthy impressed at his pro day, with Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline noting the number of NFL execs topped the scout count at the Ann Arbor event. The Chargers trading out of No. 5 to a team aiming to leapfrog the Giants for McCarthy should be considered in play, per Pauline. The Commanders making this sort of move would obviously make this scenario moot, though it would be a different move compared to how the 49ers played it when Adam Peters last offered input into a quarterback decision near the top of the draft.

The 2021 draft featured Trevor Lawrence locked in at No. 1 for months in advance, and the Jets’ Zach Wilson intentions became clear weeks ahead of the event. The 49ers, who had traded two future first-rounders to move up to No. 3, went with Trey Lance. This came after reports linked Mac Jones to San Francisco. Viewed as a lower-ceiling prospect compared to Lance at the time, Jones did not profile as a player worthy of the No. 3 pick. This is believed to have impacted the 49ers’ thinking, as Kyle Shanahan may or may not have been overruled regarding Jones at 3.

Neither of those passers panned out with his original team, but the 49ers giving up on Lance after two years (four starts) proved eye-opening. The miss did not deter the Commanders from naming Peters their president of football ops, however, and he faces a similar decision in his first draft running Washington’s front office.

McCarthy has already met with the Giants and Broncos, but those teams would not have a route toward outflanking the Commanders for the fast-rising ex-Wolverine. Jim Harbaugh did not ask his final Michigan QB to do too much, and he totaled just 2,991 passing yards in 15 games last season. But the 6-foot-2 passer showed accuracy improvement from the 2022 season, vaulting to a 72.3% completion rate; his TD-INT ratios in two starter seasons: 22-5, 22-4.

Daniel Jeremiah’s most recent NFL.com mock draft has Maye going to Washington at No. 2 (with the Vikings coming up to No. 4 for McCarthy), while Mel Kiper Jr.’s ESPN.com big board sends Daniels to the nation’s capital. We are still weeks away from the draft, with prospect visit season beginning.

On that note, SI.com’s Albert Breer indicates Daniels is believed to hold pole position for the Commanders, citing the fit with OC Kliff Kingsbury as part of the reason behind this placement. The 2023 Heisman winner joined McCarthy in upping his draft stock considerably in his final college season, dominating in his second year at LSU. The Raiders have been the team most closely connected to Daniels, due to Antonio Pierce‘s past with the QB when the two were at Arizona State. Las Vegas sitting at No. 13 obviously presents a steep trade path to Daniels.

But the Commanders would have first dibs on Daniels, Maye or McCarthy; as of now, FanDuel odds give Daniels a slight edge on Maye. McCarthy’s rise should certainly be monitored, however, and it has become clear a team eyeing the Michigan-developed passer will probably need to move into or near the top five to draft him.

Broncos Host QB J.J. McCarthy; Sean Payton Open To Trading Up

March 25th, 2024 at 10:55am CST by Adam La Rose

Jarrett Stidham is currently in place to serve as the Broncos’ 2024 starting quarterback, but the team is one of many worth monitoring with respect to a move up the board. When speaking at the annual league meetings, head coach Sean Payton confirmed Denver is open to trading up from the No. 12 spot.

“It’s realistic,” Payton said of a trade-up move on the part of the Broncos (via Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post). “What’s hard to predict, though, is what’s on the receiving end. It’s good to be [general manager] Monti Ossenfort today at Arizona. It’s hard to predict what that cost is and yet I certainly wouldn’t say it’s unrealistic. We’ll pay close attention to it.”

Ossenfort made it clear last week the Cardinals are open to trading out of the fourth slot; Chargers GM Joe Hortiz has likewise said the No. 5 pick could also be available for the right price. The Broncos will therefore have potential trade partners if they are willing to pay a steep price to move into range for one of the top passers in this year’s class. With only one other pick inside the top 120, however, Denver does not have as much capital available as teams like the Vikings (who now own two first-rounders).

Payton (who was not in attendance for Michigan’s Pro Day) also said on Monday the Broncos hosted quarterback J.J. McCarthy for a private workout one day later. That allowed Denver’s decision-makers to get a close look at the 2023 national champion, who has of course received interest from other teams recently (and has previously been on Denver’s radar). McCarthy has long been seen as a member of the second tier of QB prospects (behind Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye), but he has increasingly been linked to a top-10 selection, likely by a team moving up the board to draft him.

Set to carry $85MM in dead cap charges owing to the Russell Wilson release, the Broncos need a cost-effective quarterback depth chart in the near future. Stidham is on the books for one year at a $7MM cap figure, but a long-term investment at the position would come as no surprise. Considering Payton’s remarks, Denver will remain one of the more intriguing teams to watch over the coming weeks as more clarity emerges on the price of the fourth and fifth selections and the market which develops amongst teams prepared to move up the order.

Giants Meet With Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy; Team Conducts Three WR Visits

March 20th, 2024 at 10:20pm CST by Sam Robinson

Facing a pivotal decision with their latest top-10 draft choice, the Giants are beginning the next phase of their intelligence-gathering process. It is that time of year; “30” visits are underway. And the Giants have two clear paths they could take.

The big-picture approach points to the team staying in the mix to trade up for a quarterback. On that note, the team began its face-to-face meetings last week. Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy visited the Giants, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer.

While it would bring a borderline-radical about-face for the Giants to move up for a passer a year after giving Daniel Jones a four-year, $160MM extension, the contract’s structure and the team’s managerial setup point to the scenario being live. The Giants can escape the Jones contract with barely $10MM in dead money — in the event of a post-June 1 release — next year, and while this regime paid Jones, it did not draft him. Rumblings about the Giants being interested in a passer have persisted this offseason, with McCarthy emerging as a potential target.

Yes, we are entering prime smokescreen season, but McCarthy’s stock has undeniably climbed since his low-octane but hyper-efficient Michigan season wrapped. The Vikings have been linked to the Michigan product, with Daniel Jeremiah’s latest NFL.com mock draft sending Minnesota to No. 4 for McCarthy, which would be that franchise’s first top-10 quarterback pick ever. The Giants, who have been around considerably longer, have made five such investments. In the common draft era (1967-present), New York has chosen three QBs in the top 10 — Phil Simms, Eli Manning, Jones — and faces a more action-packed market thanks to Minnesota’s recent trade with Houston.

Even prior to the Vikings acquiring a second first-round pick from the Texans, Jeremiah mentioned a “strong” expectation within the NFL points to four QBs going off the board in the top six. Seeing as the Giants hold the No. 6 pick, that rumor would stand to tie closely to the team’s interest in grabbing a Jones successor with this draft real estate. While GM Joe Schoen attended Caleb Williams‘ USC pro day Wednesday, the Bears are widely expected to begin the draft with the 2022 Heisman winner.

Maye has held his spot as a passer likely to land in the top three, with Jeremiah mocking Sam Howell‘s North Carolina successor to Washington at No. 2. More buzz has connected the Commanders to Jayden Daniels, with Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest ESPN mock keeping Maye on track for New England. The Patriots may have some internal doubts about the ex-Tar Heels starter, inviting intrigue about another team moving up in the event Daniels does go second overall. The Giants would stand to be one of the teams monitoring the Pats’ decision, as the Commanders will be unlikely to trade their No. 2 pick to a division rival when a QB investment is involved.

McCarthy has rocketed up into a likely top-10 investment, participating in the Combine while the draft’s top three passing prospects did not. While the recent national championship-winning QB would be a surprise top-six pick — based on where his stock appeared to be at season’s end — the likes of Carson Wentz, Baker Mayfield and Zach Wilson have brought late QB climbs near the top of the board in recent years. The Giants are certainly investigating Jim Harbaugh‘s final Wolverines starter.

If the dominoes do not fall the Giants’ way regarding a Jones successor, the team is doing work on that end as well. The team brought in Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze for visits earlier this month, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan tweets.

Harrison has generated attention for his pre-draft plan — one not consisting of workouts at the Combine or his pro day, which was held today — but the Ohio State prospect is widely viewed as the best receiver available. Jeremiah and Kiper’s big boards list Harrison as the No. 2 overall prospect, but the former adds it is likely some teams will have Nabers positioned above the second-generation WR talent on draft boards. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler adds Nabers is viewed by some clubs as the draft’s top wideout.

Harrison, Nabers (LSU) and Odunze (Washington) are each mortal locks to be chosen early in the first round. Nabers posted a 1,000-yard season in 2022 but unlocked another level to his game last season, totaling 89 receptions for 1,569 yards and 14 touchdowns to help Daniels win the Heisman. Nabers’ speed has generated intrigue among teams, though the three-year LSU receiver did not run the 40-yard dash at the Combine.

The QB interest would benefit the Giants on the wideout front, as two of these players could be on the board if a trade-up into the top five occurs. The Giants used a third-round pick on Jalin Hyatt last year and have Darius Slayton and Wan’Dale Robinson under contract. But the team has struggled at this position for years, lacking a WR1-level talent since injuries started to impact Odell Beckham Jr. The Giants will have a chance at one of these impact receivers soon, but the QB matter will likely loom until draft night.

Giants On Radar For QB J.J. McCarthy

March 8th, 2024 at 4:34pm CST by Sam Robinson

Giants-quarterback connections are becoming a regular offseason occurrence this offseason. A year after giving Daniel Jones $81MM guaranteed, the Giants look to be considering a long-term replacement.

Buzz about Big Blue trading up for a quarterback in Round 1 or selecting one at No. 6 continues to surface, and while we are moving toward prime smokescreen season, the Giants are being tied to a fast-rising QB prospect. The Giants are believed to be interested in J.J. McCarthy, according to the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora.

SNY’s Connor Hughes confirms Combine noise about the Giants and McCarthy being rather difficult to ignore, adding that the Giants should be classified as focused on adding a long-term Jones successor. Jones’ injuries look to be the bigger issue than the team’s confidence in him, Hughes adds. The 2019 No. 6 overall pick has sustained two neck injuries, including a 2021 season-ender that required surgery, and is now rehabbing the ACL tear. Jones also missed a 2020 game due to an ankle injury. Jones is expected to be ready for training camp; it could be his last as a Giant.

The Giants have gone about QB transitions in different ways. Jones took over for Eli Manning by Week 2 of the 2019 season, and Giants great retired after that season. Manning replaced Kerry Collins in 2004, with the incumbent being moved off the roster soon after the draft. The Giants signed Kurt Warner as the Manning bridge.

Jones’ contract would nix the Collins-to-Manning transition path, as he is due $36MM guaranteed this year. If the Giants are to add a rookie, that player would presumably begin the season behind Jones, who would then be set for an awkward farewell season. But the Giants can move on from their four-year, $160MM QB contract in 2025 rather easily, taking on only $11.1MM in dead money with a post-June 1 designation.

McCarthy has plenty of intrigued parties around the league, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler, who would not be surprised by the Michigan alum landing in the top 10. The Wolverines won the national championship with a then-20-year-old starter at the controls; McCarthy turned 21 earlier this year. Jim Harbaugh did not ask his QB to do too much, and he totaled just 2,991 passing yards in 15 games. But the 6-foot-2 passer showed accuracy improvement, vaulting to a 72.3% completion rate; his TD-INT ratios in two starter seasons: 22-5, 22-4.

Daniel Jeremiah’s NFL.com big board still places McCarthy outside the top 20, at 21st; ESPN.com’s big board places him 15th. Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye rank in the top five on each board. QB demand annually pushes prospects up the board, and if the Giants are indeed interested, they probably are not the only ones. The Raiders, Broncos and Vikings have been connected to trade-ups as well. Holding the No. 12 pick, Denver has done considerable work on McCarthy and Oregon’s Bo Nix. Minnesota and Las Vegas carry the Nos. 11 and 13 choices. The Giants have this lot outflanked at No. 6, and with the continued rumors about the team’s QB interest, their pick stands to be one of this draft’s pivotal points.

Raiders Expected To Aggressively Pursue Top-Three Pick

March 5th, 2024 at 10:39pm CST by Ben Levine

The Raiders have been mentioned as a suitor for one of the draft’s top-three quarterbacks, and the buzz is only getting louder. The Raiders are “expected to be aggressive” in trading up from pick No. 13 in pursuit of a quarterback, according to Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Albert Breer of SI.com passes along a similar sentiment, writing that the Raiders are among the teams inquiring “on a trade-up for a quarterback.”

The organization left no stone unturned at last week’s combine, meeting with the majority of the draft’s quarterback prospects. As Bonsignore passes along, the team interviewed a range of QBs, including top prospects like USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, and North Carolina’s Drake Maye. The team is especially enamored with Daniels, who was at Arizona State when Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce was on the staff.

A trade for any of those three quarterbacks would likely require a massive haul; the Bears are reportedly seeking a historic bounty for the No. 1 selection. As a result, the Raiders may need to pivot to one of the second-tier prospects like Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy or Washington’s Michael Penix Jr..

Vic Tafur and Tashan Reed of The Athletic believe one of those non-top-three QBs may be a more reasonable expectation, with the duo writing that a trade into the top-three “may be unrealistic.” Tafur and Reed also pass along that the organization has explored trades into the No. 5 to No. 7 range.

“You have to weigh how bad you want the player and how much you’re giving up,” general manager Tom Telesco said last week. “It’s just a judgment decision. Part of that is we may think we know the player is going to hit, but we really don’t. You never 100 percent know.”

While the quarterback prospects won’t have much (if any) say in their destination, it sounds like the incoming rookies were all impressed by Pierce and the organization.

“What a great job he did this past year,” Maye told Bonsignore. “So much respect for him for earning the respect of the guys.”

Caleb Williams Will Not Throw At Combine

February 25th, 2024 at 10:17pm CST by Ely Allen

The importance of the NFL Scouting Combine continues to be called into question two years after stringent COVID-19 rules nearly caused a mass boycott of the event in 2022. The topic of the boycott brought attention to how important the combine is for late-round, fringe, and small school prospects while potentially serving as a negative for some of college football’s best. Those debates may crop up again with recent news that USC quarterback Caleb Williams plans not to throw at next week’s combine, according to Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report.

To clarify, Williams still plans on attending the event in Indianapolis, according to Ian Rapoport. He’ll be available to interview with any interested teams. It’s unclear if he’ll perform in any of the other workouts of the combine, but we know for sure that he will not throw. Rapoport informs us that Williams’ plan is to wait until his pro day, where he will throw and workout for scouts.

There will be pundits chirping on both sides of the story. Some will support the decision, claiming that he has nothing to gain from throwing at the combine. He’s already expected to be selected at No. 1 overall and plans to throw on March 20 at the Trojan’s pro day. What good can be done by working out twice?

The other side will point to character issues that have persisted in the media throughout his junior year of college. Williams’ mentality and leadership took hits late in the year from the media after the quarterback refused to speak to reporters following what ended up being his final game of college football. Rapoport himself seemed to call out the 22-year-old citing Joe Burrow as an example of how a quarterback should handle his role and responsibilities. His refusal to work out among the other quarterbacks is sure to draw criticism from those who already believe that “off-field concerns” exist for the young passer.

In reality, there are advantages to working at the combine, namely the officiality of the measurements and the additional opportunity to work with NFL coaches. Sure, he will get to perform workouts at his pro day, but the results of timed exercises will be hand-timed. Also, while some coaches will choose to attend USC’s pro day, the combine serves as an additional opportunity to work with NFL staff. Some will look down on Williams’ decision to reject that opportunity.

So, yes, there are advantages, but are they minimal for someone with his current draft stock? That’s difficult to answer. We have certainly seen bad combine performances affect draft stock. Most recently, free agent tight end Isaac Nauta went from first-round prospect to seventh-round pick in 2019. Similarly, Bengals offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. fell to the third round after what is classically seen as one of the worst combine performances of all time. Still, there are examples of players like Terrell Suggs, who, despite a terrible combine performance, still turned out to be a top-10 pick.

Could Williams be the next to fall victim to the combine? Probably not. He isn’t expected to deliver anywhere near that poor of a performance and, even if he did, his current stock is simply too high to warrant a drastic fall. Still, when he’s already at the top of most prospect rankings, there’s nowhere for him to go but down. It’s hard to blame him for choosing not to take any chances heading into the 2024 NFL Draft.

His announcement has, obviously, caught headlines, though. In the time between the Schultz’s initial report and this one, both Schultz and Rapoport have reported on a number of other prospect’s intentions. So far, South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., Oregon’s Bo Nix, and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy have all made it known that they intend to throw next week. Only LSU’s Jayden Daniels has joined Williams in announcing his intentions to wait until his pro day, per Rapoport. The other four passers will have the opportunity to not only work out at the combine in front of NFL coaches but also to do so in direct comparison to their competition, with the lone exceptions (so far) of Williams and Daniels.

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