Recently ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. updated his NFL big board along with ranking the top 10 players at each position. Kiper ranked his top 25 players in the entire draft before ranking each position.
There was just one Michigan football player ranked in the top 25 and that was QB J.J. McCarthy.
J.J. McCarthy is considered the No. 23 overall player in the draft, according to Kiper.
McCarthy has first-round arm talent and can beat defenses with his legs too. He ranked third in the country in Total QBR (89.2) and completion percentage (72.3%) in 2023. Since he took over as the Wolverines’ starter in 2022, he threw 44 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. Five of those INTs have come in two games, however; he threw three against Bowling Green earlier in 2023, and he had two pick-sixes in the College Football Playoff semifinal loss to TCU last season. Outside of those two games, he has managed games effectively and made great decisions with the football.
I recently projected McCarthy in the middle of Round 1 in my debut mock draft, and I think he will put up great testing numbers at the combine. Sure, he averaged just 22.1 pass attempts per game in 2023 and only needed to complete 10 passes in the national title game, but his upside is immense.
Here are where Michigan players rank positionally by Kiper.
QB: J.J. McCarthy No. 4
RB: Blake Corum No. 4
TE: AJ Barner No. 10
G: Zak Zinter No. 2
C: Drake Nugent No. 7
DE: Braiden McGregor No. 8
DT: Kris Jenkins No. 4
MLB: Junior Colson No. 3
OLB: Jaylen Harrell No. 8
Players like Roman Wilson, Trevor Keegan, Michael Barrett, and Mike Sainristil were all left off his big board — not even considered top 10 at their respective positions. Wilson flashed during the Senior Bowl practices and a player like Sainristil will only continue to impress during the NFL Combine and during the interview process. There have been plenty of mock drafts that have both Wilson and Sainristil going in the second round. It wouldn’t be shocking to see more Wolverines break into Kiper’s big board as we get closer to the draft.
