1. Daniels, already a top-5 NFL player.
(big dropoff)
2. McCarthy, I think Darnold is a fringe starter, and look what he did in this offense, McCarthy is an upgrade in every way. Huge dynasty target in my eyes. There's a Burrow ceiling here if everything breaks right.
(dropoff)
3. Maye, showed a lot with little around him. Has some Josh Allen to his game, we'll see how he develops. I wasn't thrilled by the Vrabel hire.
(dropoff)
WOW. The Daniels declaration is a reach at such an early point, but I can respect it.
The McCarthy pick makes little sense to me. You are going on what exactly? A good college season surrounded by a great team and coach? And you actually lean on on Sam Darnold as some sort of "proof" of JJ being good? How does that jibe exactly? That runs counter -- or at a minimum, makes little sense -- to any point regarding his individual talent. I mean you are literally talking about the talent surrounding him, again (Michigan). This proves what about him?
Please, explain that part of your JJ #2 reasoning. That smells of more than just a little bias. Hello, we are how far into his career? And Sam Darnold, again, is what sort of barometer for a JJ McCarthy argument how?
We don't even have to go into the part he hasn't really played. Or should we? Reading this, you'd think it was JJ that took them to 14-2, got injured, and the team collapsed.
Your "drop-offs", btw, are interesting, to say the least. You have that much to go on, already?
With only 1 year of NFL play, I'm still weighing college play, and prospect analysis quite a bit. I think that makes sense for young players, and I'd even argue its not until year 3 or so, when we should start looking an NFL-only returns. In that regard, I was one of the people still defending Bryce Young at this time last year, though I'd still have him behind all 6 of these guys.
I think QB in general has some steep dropoffs. Overall I think:
1. Josh Allen
(big dropoff)
2. Lamar Jackson/Patrick Mahomes
(dropoff)
4. Joe Burrow/Jayden Daniels
(dropoff)
6. Justin Herbert
After the top-5, if I were starting an NFL team, I think its reasonable to start looking outside of QB, though I'd probably still go Herbert over guys like Myles Garrett, Nick Bosa, or Micah Parsons. Though maybe not Garrett if he were younger.
The reason I bring that up, is I really liked JJ McCarthy as a prospect. I will 100% admit, as much as I attempt not to, the occasional bias will slip in. I am a Michigan guy, but I think more often than not, that makes me harder on Wolverines than easier on them. I did in 2022 say Aidan Hutchinson was the best defensive prospect since Myles Garrett, I didn't think that was bias.
Which brings me back to McCarthy. I think JJ McCarthy has a Joe Burrow level ceiling. I think the Wolverines offense held him back, because they were blowing teams out so much, that he wasn't asked to do much. Whenever he was, he came through. I bring up Darnold, because I think Darnold is a fringe starting talent, who had a career year in an extremely QB friendly offense. JJ McCarthy is better than Darnold at pretty much everything. More accurate, more mobile (assuming the meniscus is fully healed) better decision maker, and better under pressure, the one advantage Darnold may have is arm strength, and even then, I'd probably call that a tie.
I feel like JJ McCarthy in this extremely QB friendly offense, has a shot to be viewed in a similar light this time next year, as Justin Herbert.
Its possible I'm answering a different question than what is being asked. I took this as more of a how would you rank them going forward question. Not a what have they shown so far question. So, situation took some precedence. If it was just off how they played this season, I'd say:
Daniels
(huge dropoff)
Nix
Maye
(dropoff)
Caleb
(dropoff)
Penix
McCarthy
