J.J. McCarthy had a private workout with Broncos ahead of NFL draft

Either Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton doesn’t mind tipping the team’s hand, or he’s putting out serious smoke screens ahead of the 2024 NFL draft.

On the same day that he said trading up for a quarterback is a “realistic” option for the Broncos, Payton also revealed (unprompted) that the team had a private workout with Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy last weekend.

“I wasn’t at J.J.’s pro day, but we had a private the next day,” Payton said at the NFL’s annual meeting in Orlando on Monday, via Andrew Mason of DenverSports.com. “We sent him a bunch of information [and] spent four or five hours with him. And [we] made him throw all over again. I think it’s all part of the process.”

Broncos general manager George Paton was not as forthcoming about the team’s pre-draft visits. He laughed when asked about McCarthy’s private workout, according to the Denver Post‘s Parker Gabriel.

“I don’t want to get into the workouts guys,” Paton said, via Gabriel. “I’m glad Sean told everyone. But he’s a very nice young man. We’ve done private workouts with other players at other positions. We had a good visit.”

Paton attended McCarthy’s pro day last week and Denver’s staff also met with him at the NFL combine. Last month, KFAN’s Paul Allen reported that Payton is “quite enamored” with McCarthy.

The Broncos are not scheduled to pick until 12th overall, so if they want to draft McCarthy, they will likely need to trade up. Our most recent seven-round mock draft for Denver has the team moving up to pick No. 4 to select him. The 2024 NFL draft will be held in Detroit from April 25-27.

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Story originally appeared on Broncos Wire