Brock Huard says he’d do everything to bring J.J. McCarthy to Seattle

That’s some high praise right there. #GoBlue

A former Washington Huskies star quarterback who also played for his hometown Seattle Seahawks thinks that the best course of action for the franchise is to go and get the star player who beat his college team last.

That’s right, he’s all in for J.J. McCarthy.

On his podcast, he shared why he feels McCarthy is a next level player and what turned his head toward the idea of making him the Seahawks’ first-round pick.

“I feel more conviction about this than I have in years past. And there are some concerns with J.J. It’s real — I’m not going to be blind to that,” Huard said. “But my conviction is this: that if John Schneider and Mike Macdonald, and if Mike Macdonald was imbedded within Michigan for a year and he says to John, ‘We’ve gotta go get him, I don’t care.’

“This is the guy I want to build the program around, he’s a leader, he’s a winner, he’s tough, he’s South Chicago — he’s all of these things. Sent you a play last night that reminded me of Patrick Mahomes back in the day. He was on a dead sprint, this was versus Nebraska, it was the end of the half, it was perfect game management. He took a completion, he threw the ball away, led them right down the field, managed the clock perfectly — like an NFL quarterback has to do. And then a free rusher comes, he spins to his left, as a right-hander, and he is probably running 19 miles an hour. It is not a job — it’s a dead spring. Flips his hips and throws a laser 30 yards down the field for Roman Wilson’s eighth touchdown of the year. An absolute dot. A play that Geno, at this stage of his career, could not make. A play that Michael Penix — with his talents and what he is — could not make. He has that kind of upside.”

That said, he’s aware: with McCarthy surging up NFL draft boards, he’s likely not going to fall to No. 16, where the Seahawks currently pick. That means some maneuvering would have to be done. But given what he said about current quarterback Geno Smith, or Heisman Trophy finalist Michael Penix Jr. — who starred at Huard’s alma mater — he feels that the Seahawks may need to do some finagling to bring McCarthy to Seattle.

But, in his eyes, it’s totally worth it.

“My conviction is you do whatever it takes,” Huard said. “Is it trading D.K. Metcalf? Is it trading next year’s first? I would sure love this year’s first, I really would. I’d really love to add a Troy Fautanu and some of the top difference-makers that are in the top 50 of this draft. But I don’t walk away from this draft without doing and exhausting every opportunity to go get J.J. McCarthy.”

Huard has also seen McCarthy quite a few times, including the aforementioned Michigan football at Nebraska game in 2023 as Fox Sports’ color analyst.