Is Jim Harbaugh Influencing NFL Draft For Chargers?
The 2024 NFL Draft is coming up in a few weeks and it's not smokescreen time for all teams. Nobody wants to give away their strategy, giving any team a level up on taking a certain player.
This is the time for lies and tales from front offices and coaches, which can confuse what may happen. For the Los Angeles Chargers, head coach Jim Harbaugh has been playing some games regarding his former quarterback at the University of Michigan, J.J. McCarthy.
Harbaugh has been talking about McCarthy being the best quarterback in the draft, which could be him trying to directly influence how other teams, namely the four ahead of Los Angeles, could view the player. The Chargers hold the fifth overall pick, with many of the teams ahead of them needing to take quarterbacks.
If all four teams took a quarterback, it would leave the Chargers in the best possible place to take the top player on their draft board. Some around the league believe that Harbaugh has an ulterior motive when it comes to how he has been speaking about McCarthy.
“There definitely could be a little bit of an ulterior motive to get someone pushed to him, for sure. That would be a Harbaugh type move,” one evaluator said. “There’s a plan there, I would say. Because they’re sitting there like, all right, if top four are QBs, we get our pick of whatever the hell we want. They’re probably in the best position of any team up there, because now the first four probably are going to be quarterbacks.”
This is a smart play by Harbaugh if it works. But it remains to be seen, as other teams may see through his words. McCarthy is a good prospect, who will likely be taken in the first round, but going top-five may be a stretch.
“He’s definitely been pumping [McCarthy] a lot,” another evaluator said of Harbaugh. “It seems like he’s doing it every time he sits down with anyone. Which I’m sure that’s what most coaches would say about their guy who wins a national championship and has that [27-1] record as a starter. But it’s definitely convenient that McCarthy going in those top four picks is really a best-case scenario for the Chargers, too. I do think there’s something to that, too.”
The Chargers will likely be taking either a wide receiver or offensive tackle with their first-round selection, or even trading back. So, if Harbaugh can help dwindle the quarterbacks on the board, it would open up options for the Bolts.
