J.J. McCarthy of Michigan Wolverines looking on.INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – DECEMBER 02: J.J. McCarthy #9 of the Michigan Wolverines interacts with fans after winning the Big Ten Championship against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 02, 2023 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
A fascinating trade proposal has a surprise AFC team shaking up the 204 NFL Draft by moving up for Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

Many scouts and analysts expect McCarthy to be a top-20 pick in this year’s draft. The stacked 2024 QB draft class also features USC’s Caleb Williams (the likely first overall pick), North Carolina’s Drake Maye, LSU’s Jayden Daniels and Oregon’s Bo Nix.

In his latest mock draft, Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports projects that the Pittsburgh Steelers will move up into the No. 9 spot via trade with the Chicago Bears. Fornelli then predicted that the Steelers will replace Kenny Pickett with the national championship-winning QB:
“The Steelers realize Kenny Pickett isn’t the answer and don’t waste time trying to correct the situation. Arthur Smith is likely to bring a run-heavy offense that relies on play action and tight ends, and that sounds a lot like the offense McCarthy ran at Michigan! McCarthy has a strong arm, diagnoses defenses quickly, and is a good enough athlete to regularly extend drives with his legs. He’d be a good fit here.”

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stated after the season that the team will bring in new QB competition for Pickett. They have already released Mitch Trubisky, and backup Mason Rudolph is a pending free agent.

As holders of the No. 20 pick, it would cost Pittsburgh a pretty penny to move up into the top-10 to take a quarterback. So if they were to trade up for a quarterback, it would have to be somebody that Tomlin and company are highly sold on.

McCarthy didn’t put up eye-popping numbers in a rush-first Michigan offense, but many scouts believe that there’s a greater skill set than what the stat sheets showed. If he lands with the right team, McCarthy just might grow into a franchise-changing quarterback.