JJ Won't Be Attending the Draft in Person
Neither will Michael Penix and Bo Nix, for what it's worth. I'm assuming JJ will be back home in Illinois surrounded by family and friends - which very much fits the kind of person he is - but kind of disappointed we won't get to see him walking across the stage in Detroit.
Good for him and his family, though.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:01 PM ^
Good. I don't want him to be the laughing stock of all Sparties and Buckeyes when he falls from No. 2 all the way down to No. 7.
I’m not usually a vindictive man, but I remember watching Brady Quinn’s pained expression, as he slid further and further down the first round, with something approaching glee.
Ok, so I’m vindictive af. Started hating Quinn in 2006 and haven’t found any reason to stop.
Come now, you should be the bigger person. We have anywhere from 21-47 reasons to not be vindictive towards Brady Quinn
I remember the 1990 draft when for some reason they did a special feature on Marc Spindler from the very beginning of the draft. He was supposed to be a first round pick and he slid to the Lions in the 3rd round. After every pick they'd show him shaking his head. I felt sorry for him at the time, but retro-active schadenfreunde since his son Rocco picked ND. To hell with ND.
Well, Quinn was just as annoying as any overhyped ND QB or player in general from that era and or even now as they continue to Return to Glory and Wake Up the Echoes apparently every year now, only to end up meh - or sneak into BCS and playoff contention due to avoiding tough conference games.
That said, Quinn has been quite outspoken about the absurdity of claiming UM's "sIgN STeaLINg!!!" had anything to do with the program's success, and gives full credit to Harbaugh and the team for their achievements. Henceforth, my enemy's enemy is my friend, and I now like the cut of his jib.
And in fairness to the Figthings, UM was essentially ND, just a decade later to the "down bad" Blue Blood programs club until Harbaugh took over. Theirs has ben 30 years of mediocrity with a few great Kelly years scattered in, and we were 20 years of mediocrity - starting with late ear Lloyd and ending with Harbaugh.
Brady Quinn was pretty supportive of Michigan during SignGate.
April 13th, 2024 at 10:00 AM ^
high character given the adversity of his highly punchable face.
April 12th, 2024 at 10:49 PM ^
I like Brady Quinn.
He's pretty good on the Fox pregame show and normally is one of the more positive panelists with respect to Michigan. I didn't like him at ND, but I'm fine with him now.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:04 PM ^
I was thinking about attending the draft. Then I realized how popular it apparently is, and the free admission they let you sign up for only gets you into a big holding pen half a mile away from the stage. So if I'm not actually getting to boo Roger Goodell, and if no Michigan players are going to be there in person, I'm not sure what the point would be.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:12 PM ^
Draft held in KC it was like an Insane Posse concert. Wall to wall people pressing by the thousands. Getting to the venue was a mess let alone bathrooms and food. Hard Pass.
Nothing better than the ICP in detroit!
Hell, they should be MCing the draft!
I would hope that the overlap between Michigan grads and ICP fans is close to zero.
Really experience the Gathering some day and you'll at least hold some (even minimally) higher estimation of ICP. Wild world but by-and-large friendly people
April 12th, 2024 at 12:17 PM ^
Good call.
It would be like going to Best Buy on Black Friday or to anything TV- or movie-related. You'd be treated like a herd animal (which would be about right).
April 12th, 2024 at 12:30 PM ^
I'm attending an event right next to the draft. I didn't think about how difficult parking is going to be.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:32 PM ^
Go to the Big 10 office and boo Tony Petitti instead. A much better use of your boos.
I have a few gift ideas for our friend Tony tiny-bootie. We have a place on the farm called manure mountain and gosh, I’d be happy to make a large donation to tony
You could take your cue from the European farmers who are protesting their governments by spraying liquified forms of said mountain on the front of the government buildings. How long would it take a tractor to pull a tank of such to Rosemont?
I wonder if an iPass would work to get through the tolls?
I went to the Draft in 2013 with my uncle when I still lived in NY. Was happy I did it, I get to say I've been before, but I'm not going to be rushing back to do it again. Even when/if it comes down here to Atlanta.
- The "free" tickets are technically free, but we waited for hours to see if we could even get tickets to just get in the door. Granted, Radio City Music Hall is a much smaller venue than where they're hosting the event now, but sitting around waiting just to find out that you could get in stunk.
- There is a LOT of waiting around. Especially if you go on the day of the first round. They gave us little radio headsets to cycle through different channels so you could listen to Kiper/McShay/Gruden commentary on the picks, but otherwise you were just sitting around waiting for announcements, and with the first round being I think 9-10 mins between picks, you're waiting around for a LONG time. My uncle eventually decided to leave by I think the 19th or 20th pick. He didn't care to wait around and see the Giants pick.
- In retrospect, going to the draft that year was probably the worst year to go to a draft in terms of watching star power that lasted in the league. That entire draft (at least the first round) was devoid of hot shot skill position players or QBs. Only first round QB taken that year was freaking Christian Ponder. It was A LOT of OL/DL "in the trenches" kind of guys. I think the first 4-5 picks were all linemen or linebackers. The only WR taken in the top 10 was Tavon Austin.
Yeah. But have you ever seen Christian Ponder's wife?
Fun fact: Sam Ponder and the Sklar Brothers have been presenters or hosts on Battlebots.
I was very excited about going but am now along the same view as you. I’ll still go Thursday and Friday for sure . Would of loved to see some Michigan players
April 12th, 2024 at 12:04 PM ^
There's only going to be 13 players actually attending the draft. No one wants to be that guy sitting in the green room waiting for his name to be called when you could be having a huge party surrounded by people who love you and not have the cameras invading your space.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:15 PM ^
Unfortunately it probably also has something to do with it being in Detroit and the perceptions of it outside the area ranging from lame to dangerous. And quite frankly the city isn't doing itself any favors in that regard. I've been checking in periodically and downtown does not look at all ready for this sort of spotlight with two weeks to go.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:16 PM ^
I find that hard to believe. Not like they're gonna get shot at the NFL draft. Hasnt there been a trend of guys forgoing being there in person?
This is a subjective take. I live on the east coast and that’s how people view Cleveland, not Detroit. My experience, people want what’s best for Detroit and The Mistake on the Lake can sink into Erie’s depths.
Agree. I've lived a few places over the years, and out-of-town folk are MUCH more encouraging, positive and receptive toward Detroit than they were, say, 20 years ago.
Detroit isn't perfect, but it has a good deal to be proud of.
Cleveland has actually greatly improved over the last 10-15 years. The downtown is pretty nice now.
Such a dumb take.
Cleveland hosted the NFL Draft a few years ago. CLEVELAND. If Cleveland can host the draft, Detroit can too.
I haven't been back in downtown Detroit in a few years, but when I was last there in 2017, I didn't feel even remotely unsafe. And I'm guessing its gotten even better since then. Are there bad pockets of town? Absolutely. But there's bad areas of town everywhere.
It 100% does not have anything to do with this. Not everyone gets invited and if you do go, there are responsibilities, etc.
Good lord, you're lame. Downtown looks fine -- certainly better than downtown K.C. -- and this has zero to do with players being scared of Detroit. The only people scared of downtown Detroit are people like you. The players who aren't showing are ones who worry they'll be embarrassed. Notice how all the top players are showing.
Yikes guess I framed this point poorly. I work downtown and walk around every day. Love it. But I also get people flying in for work and the old generalizations about the city definitely exist. To say the "only people" who are afraid of Detroit is silly. There are still a ton of those people. To say they don't exist is just incorrect. All I'm saying is I thought they would do more to showcase how cool the city IS. Still the only thing up is the little countdown clock and a tiny set of bleachers in Campus Martius and a shitty Detroit sign along the freeway. They didn't even start building the main stage until a week ago. Hopefully they can work fast and I'm wrong.
Oakland County parents from the early 90s called; they want their take back.
Definitely not a safety issue. But with that, I do think Detroit is not a great city to host major sporting events outside of the standard pro team game.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:04 PM ^
Kind of a bummer for M fans that were thinking of attending (at least the first round). With Jenkins projected as a likely 2nd day pick, JJ was really the only hope for an in-person, round 1 pick...
April 12th, 2024 at 12:07 PM ^
Brady Quinn wishes he did that.
God that’s a funny memory. Almost as funny as watching his Heisman campaign go up in flames as he picked turf out of his helmet and cried on the sidelines.
Hang on, I gotta rewatch those game highlights.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:12 PM ^
One more data point that JJ is wise beyond his years.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:26 PM ^
What strange phrasing in the article.
"Two quarterbacks are conspicuously missing. Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix are not scheduled to attend the draft. It is unclear why Nix and Penix aren’t going."
and then:
"Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy also is absent from the list. "
Somehow, Nix and Penix missing the draft is conspicuous, but the other guy most talking heads peg as going in the top 5 picks missing the draft isn't? Weird.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:51 PM ^
I wouldn't want to shake Goodell's hand either.
April 12th, 2024 at 12:55 PM ^
With all the variance in when quarterbacks with a first-round grade are selected beyond the first couple of spots, it becomes the story of the draft if you slip a few spots. Who needs that?
There are three teams clearly looking for a year-one starter and three that have someone in place, but want or should want a new quarterback who can start in the league. While it seems likely JJ will go in the top ten now, he might not. As for Penix and Nix, who could be first-rounders but just as likely might not, I don't see why they'd even consider being there.
Teams also know that drafting a quarterback in the first round is a crap-shoot, no matter how glowing the scouting reports. There is no way to know how a quarterback will react to the much faster game at the NFL level. Who would take Young over Stroud today? Who would consider Manning/Leaf to be a legitimate debate over 1/2? How's JaMarcus Russell doing in the league?
Yep. Way too many people view the NFL Draft as a zero-sum game*, where players are rated in terms of whether they over-/under-exceeded their projected draft position.
The NFL Draft should be a celebration of EVERYONE. From draft pick #1 to "Mr. Irrelevant", they've all accomplished something! But, inevitably, the pundits will peg some player a "loser" because they were projected to go #10 and instead went #25.
------
*Mathematically, this being a "zero-sum game" is inevitable. If someone over-exceeds their projected position, someone else must under-exceed it.
Commence all the OSU and MSU fans yelling out "SEE SEE SEE HE'S NOT A FIRST ROUNDER, HE DOESN'T WANT TO GO AND HUMILIATE HIMSELF, THE JIG IS UP, HE'S A CHEATER ARGH HIS WINS AGAINST US NEVER HAPPENED RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!"
Being present for the draft makes no sense. There is only downside unless you know you are one of the first 3-5 guys to go. And even if you are, what do you get from being there?
He will not drop past #12 (Denver) so I doubt he'd experience an Aaron Rodgers or Will Levis moment. Maybe he just wants to hang around with his family and enjoy a BBQ day in the backyard.
It would have been great seeing the VIkes trade up to 5 to draft him and then have the Sharty and Bucknuts fans seethe in envy.
Good for him. I’m sure he’s more about getting to work this his new team than wanting the spotlight for himself. I always appreciated Joe Thomas choosing fishing with his dad over attending the draft. He was the first guaranteed top pick I remember who declined the spotlight.
He gets to skip the creepy bro-hug with the commissioner
Well that sucks. He is one of the main reasons a bunch of us are goin to the draft.
JJ was invited and did not respond. The other 2 guys were not invited.
Not original article I read but states it here ... https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/joe-alt-and-brock-bowers-declined-invitation-to-attend-draft