2024 has been one hell of a year for former Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy. In January, McCarthy helped to lead the Wolverines to their first National Title since 1997, and shortly after, McCarthy announced that like his former head coach Jim Harbaugh, he too was NFL bound. McCarthy was initially pegged as a mid-to-late 1st round prospect, but thanks to some carefully crafted comments by his former head coach and an impressive performance both on and off the field at the NFL Scouting Combine, his stock has continued to rise, and now, just three days before the 2024 NFL Draft, McCarthy's stock is most certainly at an all-time high.

“J.J. McCarthy’s odds to go No. 2 overall are moving drastically this hour. He’s gone from 20/1 to 17/1 to now 11/1 on @FDSportsbook,” tweets Jaime Eisner of The Draft Network. It's a stunning development that would've seemed almost inconceivable even a month ago, when McCarthy was clearly still a part of the second tier of quarterbacks in this draft along with Washington's Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon's Bo Nix. But enough teams are becoming enamored by McCarthy's size, athleticism, pedigree and mental makeup, and given Sunday night's shift in betting odds, it's fair to say one of the teams that may be enamored is the Washington Commanders.

Nobody has been able to get a firm read on what new Commanders general manager Adam Peters is planning to do with the #2 pick, though recently the idea of Washington trading away the pick was all but squashed by Peters himself. Washington recently held a group visit at TopGolf with the three QB's — McCarthy, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye — that are presumably still in the mix for the 2nd overall pick. If the Commanders weren't seriously considering the Michigan prospect, it seems unlikely that he would've gotten the invite to tee off.

The primary issue that those around the league have with JJ McCarthy is that he hasn't been put in many spots where the Wolverines needed him “go get a bucket.” Michigan was a run-first powerhouse that dominated in the trenches and held opponents to just 10 points per game. Against Penn State, in arguably Michigan's biggest road test of the season, McCarthy only threw the ball eight times. It's fair to question whether that gameplan had anything to do with a worry that McCarthy wouldn't be up to the task of making big throws on a big stage in front of a raucous opposing crowd. Some talent evaluators, however, feel comfortable enough with McCarthy's limited body of work where he had to be The Man. 

“McCarthy didn’t have to be Superman. There were times in his career where he was, though,” says Andy Staples of On3 Sports (h/t Wade Perry of On3 Sports). “The 2022 Ohio State game would be a good example. JJ McCarthy kept them in that game for a half until they could get the running game going, and then they took over in the second half.”

McCarthy is still a long shot as the number two pick in comparison to Daniels and Maye, but the fact that he's even forced his way into this conversation speaks volumes about how much a championship season can change the way people look at you.