J.J. McCarthy is ‘Mitch Trubisky with a better coach,’ says Colin Cowherd

Former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy has experienced a meteoric rise in the lead-up to the 2024 NFL Draft process, as the 21-year-old appears poised to be a top-five pick, but not everyone is convinced that he'll find success.

Colin Cowherd went as far as to say that teams could be making a full-blown mistake by buying too much into the hype surrounding McCarthy, who he compared to a former No. 2 overall selection on Wednesday's edition of "The Herd."

"I think he (McCarthy) is Mitch Trubisky with a better college coach," Cowherd said. "He's mobile [and] he's a nice kid, but his ball dies. He misses easy stuff, misses too many layups — and unless his feet are pointed in the right direction, he is set, he's got time and he can look down his receiver, he's not that accurate, consistently. 

"What I just described — protection, your feet are set, you've got everything ready to deliver, you've got space — that's Michigan; that's not the NFL. At Michigan, you got perfect protection … he played with a lead; he had a run game. That is not the NFL. What are you when stuff implodes, when you have to throw moving left?"

Cowherd also referred to McCarthy as being "not that big" and having a "pretty average" arm.

McCarthy was Michigan's quarterback for the past two seasons, with the team going a combined 28-1 with him under center and, most notably, winning last season's College Football Playoff National Championship. Last season, he totaled 2,991 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns, four interceptions and a 167.4 passer rating, while completing 72.3% of his passes. McCarthy also ran for 202 yards and three touchdowns.

The knock on McCarthy is that he wasn't the featured part of the Wolverines offense, as they heavily relied on