Schrager, Yates NFL Mock Draft: Giants Trade for McCarthy; Raiders Pick Penix Jr.

Julia StumbaughApril 16, 2024

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The New York Giants traded up to take Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, while the Las Vegas Raiders selected Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. at No. 13, in a joint mock draft held by ESPN’s Field Yates and Fox Sports’ Peter Schrager.

Yates and Schrager recorded the mock draft on a Tuesday episode of The Season with Peter Schrager.

Peter Schrager @PSchragsESPN’s @FieldYates joined me on my podcast to do a joint mock draft. We alternated picks. 1-32. We each got two trades if we wanted. Here’s how it turned out. Dig in! pic.twitter.com/7fEPce0uf5

The two reporters alternated picks and were allowed to make two trades each.

Schrager used one of his trades to project the New York Giants dealing a trio of picks, including No. 6 of this year’s draft, in order to climb up two spots and take the Arizona Cardinals’ slot.

The Giants would select McCarthy at No. 4, Schrager projected. McCarthy could then potentially create competition for Daniel Jones in New York.

The theoretical trade cost the Cardinals a 2024 third-rounder and 2025 second-rounder in addition to this year’s first, Schrager said.

The Cardinals could ask for a 2025 first-rounder in exchange for this deal, Yates suggested.

Yates later projected the Raiders staying in place at No. 13 in order to draft Penix.

The Raiders’ quarterback room is currently made up of Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew. The two create a combined cap hit of less than $10 million, with the large majority of that going to Minshew.

“They’re an interesting team, right?” Yates said about the Raiders. “They’re saying all the right things about Aidan O’Connell, how he’s going to have to lose the job for someone to take over to him, and they signed Gardner Minshew to this two-year deal, but if you look at the quarterback marketplace, nothing about the finances says guaranteed starter. So Michael Penix Jr. ends up in Las Vegas.”

Quarterbacks weren’t the only players in demand at the top of the reporters’ mock draft. Yates and Schrager also projected the New Orleans Saints trading up in order to select LSU receiver Malik Nabers with the No. 7 pick.