McCarthyMania
If I tell you that Michigan's J.J. McCarthy offers more than It-factor and wInZ, am I merely succumbing to the allure of his It-factor and wInZ?
When I first began researching Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, I expected to find a plucky white winnersauce quarterback. I did not expect to find THE plucky white winnersauce quarterback.
Everything about McCarthy – his play style, the Michigan offense, their classic uniforms and weekly historic rivalries – feels like sepia-toned footage from 1974. You can almost hear Keith Jackson calling their games. McCarthy is the quarterback your father-in-law dreams of while falling asleep in the recliner watching Yellowstone.
McCarthy makes routine plays look timeless and highlights look like feats of human achievement and perseverance. Nothing appears effortless. Quite the contrary: every boot pass to a tight end or short toss to an open crosser reeks of the fecund fruits of honest Midwestern labor. McCarthy plays like he walked off a John Cougar Mellencamp album cover and plans to take his ‘57 Chevy convertible to the drive-through for a milkshake with his best gal after winning the big game.
Now, imagine that your “brand” is too-hip-for-the-club, smarter-than-the-average-bear football analysis. Along comes almost AI-generated fetish flypaper for the likes of Bill Polian, your favorite anonymous scout or, well, Jim Harbaugh.
You sneer. You retch. You invoke Kirk Cousins, the most slanderous slur that can be hurled at a young pocket passer (you ain’t gonna do nuttin but throw for 40,000 career yards and reach four Pro Bowls, you pile of crap). It’s instinctive. It saved you from fawning over Mitch Trubisky or falling for a hundred tall-and-sturdy Mike Glennons.
But your gag reflex doesn’t make you right or McCarthy a bad prospect. Draft analysis requires both looking past the stereotype and past the stereotype of the stereotype.
With 10 days left in an endless draft season, McCarthy may have reached the point where he is so (underrated that he’s overrated) that he’s underrated, at least among the folks who claim that he’s so (overrated that he’s underrated) that he’s overrated.
Did I mention that draft season is endless?
Coming up after the paywall:
McCarthy stats!
Harbaugh jokes!
The Ultimate McCarthy NFL comparison!