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Morning Coffee: How high will Michigan’s McCarthy go in the NFL Draft?
Published
Time is a flat circle.
Everything we have done or will do we will do over and over again – forever.
Yes, I finally got around to the True Detective season finale on Crave.
Yes, I thought it was excellent.
Also - yes, it had me reminiscing about the original.
A decade after Matthew McConaughey gave us that epic quote in his unforgettable performance as Rust Cohle opposite Woody Harrelson’s Martin Hart, Jodie Foster and Kali Reis lived up to the hype as Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro in the latest season of the dark and gritty crime drama.
Sure, the sequels will never match the original.
Still, I’d prefer to judge True Detective Season 4 by its own brilliance, rather than comparing it to previous seasons, and give it to the recognition it deserves.
If you don’t have a subscription, I recommend you check it out on Crave before April.
Pretty soon we’ll have the March Madness, MLB regular season, NHL playoffs, NBA playoffs, and NFL Draft season.
At that point, it will be non-stop sports and a lot of coffee.
Speaking of coffee, after I got done with what went down at the Tsalal Research Station last night, it turned into a late night as I was busy preparing for the most important stretch of the NFL offseason.
With the NFL Draft exactly 50 days away, and free agency set to begin next week, we’re about to learn a lot about the direction of all 32 franchises in the coming days.
In Tuesday’s column, I wrote about the immediate fallout from the decision by the Denver Broncos to release Russell Wilson after the start of the new league year on March 13th.
The Broncos decided that the $85 million in dead money they will absorb by cutting Wilson – the largest dead money hit in NFL history by far - is worth dealing with to part ways with the veteran QB at this point.
Denver is one of several teams that will obviously be in the market for a franchise quarterback this offseason.
With a deep class of QB prospects that will be available in the NFL Draft, and so many teams in the mix for a franchise quarterback, I’m intrigued to see how the next few weeks play out.
This is the Morning Coffee for Wednesday March 6th, 2024.
How High Will Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy Go In The NFL Draft?
The Broncos are one of several teams that are expected to target a quarterback in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Denver owns the 12th overall pick.
After cycling through 13 different starting quarterbacks since 2016, and missing the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the pressure is on Sean Payton and the Broncos management team to get it right this offseason.
There’s no guarantee that they get it right this time.
I want to know whether Denver can address its biggest need without trading up in the first round of the draft.
According to FanDuel, a quarterback is the favourite to be selected with each of the first three picks.
Many of the top NFL Draft analysts agree with that idea.
USC quarterback Caleb Williams is the overwhelming favourite to go first overall at -2000.
North Carolina QB Drake Maye and LSU QB Jayden Daniels are now co-favourites to go No. 2 at -110.
Maye and Daniels are also co-favourites to go third overall at +150.
The market for the fourth overall pick is where things get very interesting.
Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is the favourite to go No. 4 overall at -230.
LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers is a distant second choice to go fourth overall at +850.
After the two receivers, there’s a pair of quarterbacks that are 15-to-1 to go fourth overall.
One of those quarterbacks is Daniels.
The other one is Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy.
While the consensus in recent weeks has been that it will be Williams, Maye and Daniels selected in that order at the top of the NFL Draft, McCarthy’s draft stock appears to be on the rise.
Perhaps it’s just noise, but based on FanDuel’s latest odds, it really isn’t out of the question that McCarthy is a top-five pick.
He’s 15-to-1 to go No. 4 overall and 12-to-1 to go No. 5.
FanDuel also has a market for the team that will draft McCarthy.
As it stands, the New York Giants are the favourite to draft McCarthy at +340.
The Giants own the sixth overall pick in this year’s draft.
Meanwhile, the Broncos are the second choice to draft McCarthy at +470 and the betting favourite to draft Oregon QB Bo Nix at +300.
There is no doubt that Denver will want to address the position at the draft.
However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the top four quarterbacks in the draft were all gone by the time that we got to pick No. 12 in the first round.
Williams, Maye and Daniels are all expected to be top-five picks.
I’m intrigued to see how high McCarthy will be drafted.
With free agency next week, we’ll get a better idea of how each NFL team that needs a quarterback wants to address the position.
Regardless of what happens next, it looks like McCarthy is destined to be a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft.
It wouldn’t be a major shock if he goes top-five.