JJ McCarthy of Michigan Wolverines holding football.JJ McCarthy (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
A massive trade proposal has a top NFC team moving up to select Michigan Wolverines quarterback JJ McCarthy in next week’s NFL Draft.

JJ McCarthy is regarded as one of the top four QB prospects in this year’s draft class, along with USC’s Caleb Williams (a virtual lock to go first overall to the Chicago Bears), LSU’s Jayden Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye.

The Washington Commanders will likely take a quarterback with the No. 2 selection. After that, it’s anyone’s guess how the board will play out since the New England Patriots (No. 3) and Arizona Cardinals (No. 4) have both expressed a willingness to trade their picks.

Mike Fanelli of RotoBaller proposed several blockbuster trade ideas for the 2024 NFL Draft. One of Fanelli’s more fascinating proposals has the Los Angeles Rams trading up to select Matthew Stafford’s successor in McCarthy:

“General manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay are unpredictable. The Rams traded up from pick 15 to first overall in 2016 to draft Jared Goff. Thankfully, the team won’t need to be that aggressive to secure McCarthy but will need to part with its 2025 first-round pick to make a deal work. If the Michigan star slips out of the top-seven picks, Los Angeles could jump ahead of the New York Jets to secure McCarthy as Stafford’s heir apparent.”

The Rams hold the No. 19 selection, and they’re set to pick in round one for the first time since 2016. GM Les Snead has never been shy in giving up multiple first-round picks (see the move up for Jared Goff and the Jalen Ramsey trade) in a single move, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he did so again to secure a QB of the future.

In his final season at Michigan, McCarthy threw for 2,991 yards and 22 touchdowns against only four interceptions, leading the Wolverines to their first national championship since 1997.

Rams Would Be A Great Landing Spot For JJ McCarthy

Sean McVay is one of the great offensive geniuses and quarterback gurus. Throw in LA’s deep set of weapons in Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupp and Kyren Williams, and you have a very nice setup for McCarthy.

It wouldn’t at all hurt McCarthy to sit and learn behind Stafford for a year or two before taking over the starting duties. We saw how much it benefitted Aaron Rodgers (Brett Favre) and Jordan Love (Rodgers) from learning behind an all-time great before taking the reins, after all.