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By Keagan Stiefel
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The Minnesota Vikings didn’t take very long to name their starting quarterback…
Kyler Murray will get the nod over J.J. McCarthy.
Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell confirmed as much on Tuesday, with his explanation doing more to heap praise on the former than take away from the latter.
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"(Murray’s) got the skill set and the abilities not only just from the standpoint of accuracy and his ability to affect the game with his athleticism, but he's also proven to be smart, very hardworking, and be able to take in a lot of information and churn that out,” O'Connell said, per ESPN. “Now we really want to give him the opportunity to really start building a comfort level not only with the system but with the guys."
If you’ve been paying attention over the last couple of seasons, however, you’d know why the choice was never going to be McCarthy and was always going to be Murray.
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QB Kyler Murray
Height: 5' 10”
Weight: 207lbs
Age: 29
Contract: 1yr, $1.3M
2025: 5 G, 2-3 W-L, 962 PASS YDS, 6 TD, 3 INT
Murray’s ascension into the role came rather quickly, which is said to have been done by design.
The Vikings have cycled through an absurd amount of starting quarterbacks over the last two seasons, with McCarthy, Nick Mullens, Sam Darnold, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer all starting multiple games since Kirk Cousins’ departure in 2024. Murray will presumably be the next name added to that list, which is why the coaching staff wanted to give him as much time to prepare for the job as possible.
“There’s comfort from Kyler in the scheme,” O’Connell said on Tuesday. “He had some really high completion days where he was able to show some really, really good understanding of just putting the ball in play, playing with great timing and rhythm. . . . As you continue to look at the body of work really through those 10 days, what jumped out is what could be.”
O’Connell knows whether or not someone can produce in his system, which served as the catalyst for career renaissances of different magnitudes for Darnold, Wentz, and Joshua Dobbs.
It’s really not a question of whether or not it can do the same for Murray, but instead to what magnitude.
If he’s able to stay healthy and takes a small step forward in the new system, there will be conversations about making him the long-term option at quarterback. If he truly ascends beyond what made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and a two-time Pro Bowler, those conversations will be very short.
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