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J.J. McCarthy is slowly getting a lot of buzz in the pre-draft process. The league has seen this before, with prospects shooting up the draft board and ending up as a higher pick than they should be for seemingly no apparent reason. With McCarthy's stock careening towards the top, the New York Giants have been pegged in many drafts to take him sixth overall.
That isn't what former Giants legend Tiki Barber wants. In fact, he's not buying any of the hype and is warning his former franchise to stay away from drafting the Michigan product with their sixth overall selection.
He said:
“J.J. McCarthy thing, I’m tired of hearing it. Stop with the J.J. McCarthy thing. His film doesn’t say he’s a first-round quarterback. His film doesn’t say, ‘I need to get rid of all my assets and go draft this guy,’ because a lot of what he does doesn’t translate."
He went on to say that he believes Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, who led McCarthy to the CFP National Title last season, is puffing up his former player so another prospect will fall.
Barber added:
“The J.J. McCarthy thing, to me, is a smokescreen. He’s getting inflated because Jim Harbaugh won’t stop talking about him. Now all of a sudden, he’s a top-four quarterback? I don’t buy it."
The Giants will have a plethora of options at six overall in the draft, and Barber feels that McCarthy would be a wasted selection.
Why is J.J. McCarthy getting all this pre-draft hype?
The reason that J.J. McCarthy is suddenly getting all this hype before the draft is a combination of factors. For one, there's a bit of prospect fatigue with some other quarterbacks, most notably Drake Maye. Analysts and scouts are looking for someone new to consider, and McCarthy fits that bill.
Additionally, there's some covert operations likely going on here with Jim Harbaugh. If he can convince the NFL world that McCarthy is worthy of a top five pick, two things can happen for his Chargers.
Either the Arizona Cardinals trade down from four with someone who wants McCarthy and leave Marvin Harrison Jr. (presumably) to the Chargers, or the Cardinals get Harrison and someone is forced to trade a haul to move up to five, giving the Chargers a ton of much needed assets.
