Last year, the Minnesota Vikings took J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick, but his season ended before it could even begin as he became the first first-round quarterback to miss his entire rookie season due to injury.

Most recently, two-time Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson compared catching passes from McCarthy to catching throws off the hand of Matthew Stafford, a former Super Bowl champion with 16 years and almost 60,000 yards on his NFL resumé.

The good news for McCarthy is he won’t have the weight of the world on his shoulders; he’ll have head coach Kevin O’Connell — a former NFL quarterback — helping him navigate everything, as well as teammates on both sides of the ball that are going to make it easier on him.