After winning a National Championship with the Michigan Wolverines, there was a lot of hype for quarterback J.J. McCarthy going into the NFL. The former Wolverines quarterback was taken with the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, but his pro career has been anything but successful so far.
In his rookie season, McCarthy didn't even get to the regular season after he tore his meniscus in his right knee during the preseason, which sidelined him for the entire 2024 season. Then, coming into 2025, there was a lot of hope for the Michigan quarterback to step up, but then injuries followed him again, as he has missed multiple games so far.
He is back out on the field, though, but things aren't going great for the young quarterback. Granted, losing a whole year to an injury doesn't help, but when asked about how much mechanics and posture are new to him in the NFL, his answer really made Michigan look bad.
J.J. McCarthy throws Michigan under the bus without even thinking
đź‘ľJJ McCarthy says Michigan never taught him proper posture or mechanics.
— Intrinsic (@intrinsicvalyou) November 20, 2025
“I was taught to play QB a different way”
And yet apologists pretend that “different way” — the cheating system — didn’t stunt his development at all #Skol pic.twitter.com/RSAq921Jp7
J.J. McCarthy is struggling at the pro level right now, and that could be due to a lot of things. The fact that he lost a whole season and wasn't getting really any reps in what should have been his rookie year. It could also just be the fact that he has dealt with a lot of injuries in his young career, while also having the big life event of having his first child with his wife.
The worst thing McCarthy could have done, though, in the eyes of Michigan, was to throw the Wolverines under the bus, and the bad thing is that he probably doesn't even realize that he did. When asked about how much posture and mechanics are new to McCarthy at the NFL level, his answer was pretty damning.
"It's very new," McCarthy said. "Coming in here, I was taught how to play quarterback in a very different way."
That is not something that a quarterback thinking about going to play at Michigan wants to hear. That sounds as if a QB wants to play for Michigan, then they won't be ready when they get to the NFL, which means the Wolverines could be losing some quarterback prospects.