Jim Harbaugh would never be one to rip one of his former esteemed players in public, let alone someone he won a college football national championship with.
With Harbaugh now coaching the Los Angeles Chargers while ex-Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy prepares for the 2024 NFL Draft, of course Harbaugh was going to talk up his former starting quarterback. You’d have been silly to assume otherwise about a player now weirdly in the rumored discussion for the No. 2 overall pick with the Washington Commanders.
But it seems some NFL draft evaluators reportedly think Harbaugh is taking his love for McCarthy a little too far. Via Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson:
“Interestingly, quite a few evaluators are pointing at [J.J.] McCarthy’s former coach at Michigan, Jim Harbaugh, who is now with the Los Angeles Chargers and sitting with the fifth overall pick. Nearly every evaluator I spoke to about McCarthy brought up the considerable praise that Harbaugh has been lavishing on his former player, which included calling him the best quarterback in this draft. To say that statement has elicited some eye-rolls would be a vast underestimation of how it was received in many personnel departments.
One longtime evaluator chuckled when I asked about McCarthy’s projection at No. 2 overall and shot back: ‘Harbaugh didn’t say he was the No. 2 quarterback. He said he was the No. 1 quarterback.’ Another longtime evaluator noted, ‘Jim [Harbaugh] needs everything but a quarterback. So every quarterback that gets taken before [the fifth pick] is a win for him.'”
Robinson’s report noted that evaluators didn’t suggest Harbaugh was behind the Commanders’ rumored interest. But some speculated about the coach understandably hyping up his college quarterback possibly being a factor in McCarthy’s soaring stock.
More from the Yahoo Sports report:
“There definitely could be a little bit of an ulterior motive to get someone pushed to him, for sure. That would be a Harbaugh type move,” one evaluator said. “There’s a plan there, I would say. Because they’re sitting there like, all right, if top four are QBs, we get our pick of whatever the hell we want. They’re probably in the best position of any team up there, because now the first four probably are going to be quarterbacks.”
Harbaugh’s been out of the professional game for a good while, but he’s not stupid. He understands that his name and his opinion hold a lot of influence in many football circles. With the Chargers unofficially taking 2024 as a gap year, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Harbaugh utilize that power to help Los Angeles rebuild its foundation.
Conversely, other seasoned NFL evaluators can usually sniff out you-know-what when it comes to overzealous prospect adoration. There’s a line for everything. Still, if anything, it might actually be surprising if Harbaugh didn’t try to use McCarthy and his opinion of the quarterback in his favor.
After all, the Chargers don’t need a new quarterback. They have Justin Herbert, a top-10 signal caller. It would be a tremendous break to watch four quarterbacks (Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels and McCarthy) go just before the Chargers at No. 5 overall, letting them select a potential young franchise player at any other position. And Harbaugh knows it.
We’re in peak NFL draft silly season, dearest readers. Harbaugh’s potential scheme here is probably just the tip of the iceberg in how many NFL coaches and general managers try to influence draft evaluations for their own gain. It’s just that time of year.
