JJ McCarthy’s draft stock continues to trend upward.

While Caleb Williams remains the presumed No. 1 pick, McCarthy is getting buzz as the potential No. 2 pick.

The Washington Commanders hold the No. 2 overall pick. A top NFL insider raised some eyebrows with his Monday report.

“It’ll be really interesting because everybody’s always trying to figure out, especially at the top of the draft, what the other teams are doing,” Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network said Monday. “When I’ve had conversations here with executives for other teams who know (Washington Commanders GM) Adam Peters well, who know the situation well, the most popular answer for what they do at No. 2 is JJ McCarthy. So, a lot of drama still to come.”

Peters himself isn’t tipping his hand, indicating that it’s wide open as far as who the Commanders take with the second-overall pick.

“We still have a lot of [time], a month ’til the draft [as of] today,” Peters said Monday, per Ben Standig of The Athletic. “It doesn’t sound like a long time, but you get a lot of information in that month. There are still some of the guys we haven’t seen in person. So, we’ll go out and do that next week, see a couple more quarterbacks. Then, we’ll do visits with them. We’ll do Zoom calls. We’ll do a lot of different things.

“So, we’re far from our answer.”

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McCarthy odds move, but Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye still ahead

As the Pelissero report spread on social media and around the web, betting odds were adjusted.

DraftKings updated the odds for McCarthy as the No. 2 pick, shifting from +2500 to +500. Here are the sportsbook’s leading options to go second:

  • Jayden Daniels –170
  • Drake Maye +135
  • JJ McCarthy +500
  • Marvin Harrison Jr. +2200
  • Caleb Williams +2500

Multiple teams with early picks are showing interest in McCarthy. Albert Breer of Monday Morning Quarterback shared Monday that McCarthy had Friday meetings with the Patriots, Seahawks and Commanders. Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post reported last week that coach Sean Payton and other members of the Broncos organization met with McCarthy the day after Pro Day. The Minnesota Vikings, meanwhile, planned a private workout with McCarthy.

Over on the NFL Mock Draft Database, media members have recently projected McCarthy to be selected at No. 3 to the Patriots (Chiefs Wire, March 24) and No. 4 to the Vikings (The Draft Network, March 25; Cards Wire, March 24).

The Database shows that McCarthy’s stock has surged over the past 6 weeks, as he has drawn rave reviews at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and at Michigan’s Pro Day.  Just recently, an ESPN analyst opined that McCarthy had solidified his status as a top-5 pick.