Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy to become third quarterback prospect visiting Patriots

McCarthy projects as an early first-round selection in this year’s draft.

The New England Patriots have added another first-round quarterback prospect to their list of Top-30 visits. J.J. McCarthy, who led Michigan to a championship last season, is set to visit Gillette Stadium in two weeks.

The visit will be the latest point of contact between the Patriots and McCarthy after the two already met at the Scouting Combine and his pro day in Ann Arbor.

The 21-year-old is one of the most polarizing players in this year’s draft. A two-year starter for the Wolverines, he completed 482 of 713 pass attempts (67.6%) for 6,226 yards with 49 touchdowns and 11 interceptions; he also scored 10 rushing touchdowns. There are questions about his exposure, though, after he averaged only 23.3 pass attempts per start in a run-centric Michigan offense.

Nonetheless, McCarthy is projected to come off the board within the first 15 selections of this year’s draft. In fact, there are rumors that Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf is “pushing hard” for the junior QB.

Whether that means the Patriots are considering spending the third overall selection on McCarthy remains to be seen; it is smoke-and-mirrors season in the NFL. Regardless, they have shown plenty of interest in him throughout the draft process.

It seems the same cannot be said for other quarterback prospects.

According to a report by Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, McCarthy is one of only three QBs currently slated to travel to New England. The others are North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels: Maye was in town Thursday and Friday, with Daniels arriving on Monday for a Tuesday meetings.

In total, NFL teams are allowed 30 such visits. At the moment, we know of 13 players who have either been to Foxborough or — like McCarthy — are scheduled to visit the organization in the near future.