I know there are comparisons to Daniel Jones and Alex Smith that has soured many on McCarthy, but consider these comments by The Athletic's Dane Brugler
Why does the scouting community seem higher on McCarthy than the general public?
McCarthy has plenty of the tools to work with. He wasn't asked to be a consistent downfield passer in that offense. That doesn't mean he can't do it. So there's a lot of projection involved with McCarthy. I know fans get annoyed with win-loss record for quarterbacks, but teams care about it. In high school, McCarthy was 36-2 as a starter and won a state championship. In college, he was 27-1 as a starter and won a national championship. This is a guy who has won at every level.
Even though he wasn't asked to be that consistent downfield thrower, especially on early downs, he was really good on money downs — third and fourth downs — and he showed up in big situations. It doesn't matter what the situation is, he's got that competitive toughness. The coaching staff at Michigan called him "Iceman" because of the way he operated — those intangibles and the toughness. And he just turned 21, so he's a young player who has yet to play his best football.
He needs to put on weight. Scouts say he played around 200 pounds this year. The tools aren't big-time, but they're good enough in terms of arm strength, and he's a good athlete. But the intangible factor, I think when teams sit down with him in a room, coaches will really fall in love with the guy. I think he's mostly going to have second-round grades around the league, but a lot of quarterbacks with second-round grades end up going in the first just because they get that one-round bump.
https://x.com/dpbrugler/status/1716438637758341449?s=20
Hear Brugler's comments on other QBs if you subscribe
https://theathletic.com/5241708/2024/02/01/new-york-giants-nfl-draft-quarterback-jayden-daniels-dane-brugler/?source=user_shared_articleGiantsQBlandscape:DaneBruglerbreaksdownNFLDraft%E2%80%99stopprospects,fitinNewYork
Why does the scouting community seem higher on McCarthy than the general public?
McCarthy has plenty of the tools to work with. He wasn't asked to be a consistent downfield passer in that offense. That doesn't mean he can't do it. So there's a lot of projection involved with McCarthy. I know fans get annoyed with win-loss record for quarterbacks, but teams care about it. In high school, McCarthy was 36-2 as a starter and won a state championship. In college, he was 27-1 as a starter and won a national championship. This is a guy who has won at every level.
Even though he wasn't asked to be that consistent downfield thrower, especially on early downs, he was really good on money downs — third and fourth downs — and he showed up in big situations. It doesn't matter what the situation is, he's got that competitive toughness. The coaching staff at Michigan called him "Iceman" because of the way he operated — those intangibles and the toughness. And he just turned 21, so he's a young player who has yet to play his best football.
He needs to put on weight. Scouts say he played around 200 pounds this year. The tools aren't big-time, but they're good enough in terms of arm strength, and he's a good athlete. But the intangible factor, I think when teams sit down with him in a room, coaches will really fall in love with the guy. I think he's mostly going to have second-round grades around the league, but a lot of quarterbacks with second-round grades end up going in the first just because they get that one-round bump.
https://x.com/dpbrugler/status/1716438637758341449?s=20
Hear Brugler's comments on other QBs if you subscribe
https://theathletic.com/5241708/2024/02/01/new-york-giants-nfl-draft-quarterback-jayden-daniels-dane-brugler/?source=user_shared_articleGiantsQBlandscape:DaneBruglerbreaksdownNFLDraft%E2%80%99stopprospects,fitinNewYork