Seattle Seahawks 2024 7-round mock draft with a trade that makes Seahawks sizzle

Seahawks select national Champion J.J. McCarthy with their first pick

I was even happier when I landed Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy with that 30th pick. Yes, all the top prospects at the position were gone by then, as were several of the defensive linemen in the draft. That's fine by me. The NFL Mock Draft Database has McCarthy ranked as the 24th overall selection after the combine. It's a great site, as it combines over 100 mock draft sites into a consensus ranking. You can run your own mock draft on their site as well.

As for McCarthy, it's true that he's been dismissed as a game manager to some degree. It's also true that he started 13 games as a true sophomore in the Big 10, throwing for 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He added five scores on the ground as well. As a junior, McCarthy connected for 22 TDs against just four picks, all while connecting on 72 percent of his passes. Oh, and he helped his team win a national title, too.

It's worth noting that in these times when players routinely spend six years in college, McCarthy just turned 21 in January of this year. That's almost three years younger than both Michael Penix and Bo Nix. Even with a year as an understudy to Geno Smith, he'd still be only 22 through almost the entire 2025 season.

And what kind of game plan does Mike Macdonald see for the Seahawks? I believe he said something like, "...We are going to run the football, we want to have the answers for the quarterback...and get the ball to our playmakers." Several of the top QB prospects declined to throw at the combine, but McCarthy showed the second-strongest arm of the day, behind only Tennessee's Joe Milton. Milton could throw a football through a closed barn door; his only problem is he wouldn't hit it on half of his tries. McCarthy's got the goods and would be a great pick at 31 for the Seahawks.