Joel Klatt believes J.J. McCarthy is in best position for success among rookie quarterbacks

After leading the Michigan Wolverines to a national championship win last college football season, quarterback J.J McCarthy will now look to help lead the Minnesota Vikings to championship heights after the franchise drafted him with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, Caleb Williams, joined a Chicago Bears team that made a concerted effort to surround him with high-level talent on the offensive side of the ball this offseason. But college football analyst Joel Klatt believes that McCarthy will be equipped with even more help in Minnesota this upcoming season that could allow him to be poised for the most success out of the six quarterbacks selected in the first round of this year’s draft.

“I think JJ McCarthy is in the best situation of any of the rookie quarterbacks to go and succeed right away,” Klatt said. “There was some debate on our desk, both on the air and off, about whether JJ should or could play early in his career. I believe that he can and he will for Kevin O’Connell. I just know him well enough to know he’s hyper-competitive and he’s really skilled, and what they’re going to see is a guy that can help them win football games. Partly because of what he does on the field, but also just as a leader.”

McCarthy was a polarizing NFL prospect due to the talent surrounding him and the play style of the Wolverines last season. Heavily predicated on the run game and the defense rooted in a philosophy that did not ask him to be the hero. But Klatt believes his intangibles and skillset will allow to thrive at the next level, especially with the Vikings.

“The guy wins man, he’s 27-1. There’s a reason why they were able to make the plays when they needed to make the plays this last year when Michigan has habitually not been able to make those plays in previous seasons. They had a really good, deep team and the difference was this year they had a quarterback that could take them above the X’s and O’s,” Klatt explained. “In particular in crucial moments like third down.”

Klatt broke down how McCarthy was able to dominate on third down last college football season and excel in throws between 10 and 20 yards. Stacking up well against the other quarterbacks in this year’s draft class. Which could allow him to make some real noise as a rookie if he does start for Minnesota given their weapons on the offensive side of the ball and the growing strength of their defense.

“I think that he’ll play early in his career in Minnesota and he’s got the best weapons by a long shot. Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, Aaron Jones they got in free agency. I know Hockenson’s coming off of that injury, he might miss maybe a month of the season, but that’s a situation where you can have a lot of success,” Klatt said.

“Defense made a step forward last year for Brian Flores when he was a defensive coordinator,” Klatt added. “Now they’re a middle-of-the-pack defense, they might even get better and now J.J. McCarthy’s in a position to really succeed early kind of similar to CJ Stroud.”

The Vikings also added Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner to their defense in the first round of the draft to further bolster up that side of the ball. And given the recent trend of franchises having both the offensive and defensive rookies of the year with the Houston Texans last season and the New York Jets before that, Klatt believes there’s a chance the same could happen in Minnesota this upcoming season with McCathy and Turner if all the pieces properly come together.