Could J.J. McCarthy have won the Heisman in a different offense?

For whatever reason, Michigan football quarterback J.J. McCarthy always seems to be a lightning rod for debate. You have Wolverines fans who rightly celebrate him as the greatest (college) quarterback U-M has ever had. He went 27-1, went 3-0 against Ohio State, was part of three Big Ten titles, and won a national championship.

It’s hard to have a resume better than that. When the 2024 NFL draft rolls, the Michigan football quarterback will add first-round pick to his resume, despite the delusions of Michigan State and Ohio State fans. Even though McCarthy torched their teams, going a combined 4-0 as a starter with 11 total touchdowns and not a single turnover. That’s in addition to an average passer rating of 177 against both teams.

Yet, while NFL draft analysts were lauding McCarthy’s performance at the NFL combine, which some called “amazing“, rival fans concentrated on one missed throw. It’s quite comical. You can only imagine seeing their heads explode with rage as talking heads from ESPN continue to praise the Michigan football quarterback.

First, there was Dan Orlosvky, the former Lions quarterback. He assessed McCarthy by saying that he excels at “making the difficult look easy.” Amazingly, there wasn’t a single word about McCarthy’s ability to hand off or manage a game. Those are common insults lobbed at McCarthy, which is ironic considering Michigan football won his four starts against MSU/OSU by an average of 25 points. J.J. had four touchdown passes this season against Sparty — matching his 4 TD showing against the Buckeyes in 2022.

JJ McCarthy

Making the very difficult look simple@GetUpESPN @Espngreeny @richeisen @AdamSchefter @RealTannenbaum pic.twitter.com/xmJvCoX63I

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) March 4, 2024

Keep that in mind when someone tries to call McCarthy a game manager. These people are simply trying to troll you. Or they have lost all touch with reality. Either way, don’t give it the time of day. Instead, listen to analysts like Mike Tannenbaum — a former NFL GM who opined that if McCarthy played at LSU last season, he could have matched the numbers put up by Jayden Daniels.

“If he had played for LSU. What would his stats look like? They’d look a lot closer to Jayden Daniels. If Jayden Daniels was at Michigan, his stats would look a lot closer to J.J. McCarthy,” Tannenbaum said.

Former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum believes J.J. McCarthy could’ve put up Jayden Daniels numbers if he was at LSU last season👀

"…If he had played for LSU. What would his stats look like?

They’d look a lot closer to Jayden Daniels. If Jayden Daniels was at Michigan, his stats… pic.twitter.com/7RV89Diyxo

— On3 (@On3sports) March 4, 2024

Rival fans won’t believe it but think about this: McCarthy completed 72 percent of his passes last season and more of his attempts came on third-and-seven or longer than any QB in the country. He threw the ball 61 MPH, had the fifth-best 3-cone drill in the entire NFL combine, and hasn’t even run the 40 yet, which will be sub 4.6. At least.

McCarthy is an insane athlete. He’s got all the tools and frankly, he’s got more tools than any other quarterback in the 2024 NFL draft. Jim Harbaugh wasn’t kidding when he said the Michigan football legend should go No. 1. Now, it seems like the rest of the world is catching on. Except for that special group of rival fans who’ll never be able to see past their pure hatred of McCarthy.

After what he did to their teams, can you blame them? But looking back on the original question, if McCarthy played in an offense that was more wide-open and padded stats as actively as LSU and Ohio State (look at C.J. Stroud’s entire career) could he have won the Heisman?

Yes. Just like he should be the No. 1 overall pick. He was the best quarterback in college football and it’s not his fault that most folks just don’t know enough about football to see it.

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