4 hours ago
It's just the way its going to be (got to be) at this stage of the off-season...
I also wonder if Frank Smith will be one of those under the radar coaching hires that can make an impact?
================================
PHOENIX – An air of satisfaction hung over Vikings brass early this week at the NFL’s annual league meeting.
That’s deserved, at least for now. In the month since the last league-wide gathering, the NFL scouting combine, they achieved exactly what they said they wanted to at the quarterback position, even with salary cap constraints: build a competitive room from which a bona fide, 17-game starter can emerge.
In March, they added Kyler Murray the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, at a league minimum price tag. And they re-signed veteran Carson Wentz, who was the fill-in starter last season until injured.
The Vikings say they still believe in developing youngsters J.J. McCarthy, who ran the team at the start of the 2025 season, and Max Brosmer, who was thrown into the fire as an undrafted free-agent rookie.
“That blend is going to be great in the room,” Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf said Monday, March 30. “Both experience and development, and talent on all fronts. It’s a great situation to have, and we’re going to come out a lot better for it.”
The Vikings would prefer, as coach Kevin O’Connell has said more than once, to have to start only one quarterback in a season instead of three or four. After a cheeky comment following Murray’s signing that a starter didn’t need to be named in March, O’Connell said Monday that it’s too early to even begin thinking about how reps are divided in the lead-up to the season.
His approach in the next phase of the calendar, organized team activities starting in late May, centers on “learning and teaching.”
O’Connell said he expects OTAs will include the full group of receivers, including Justin Jefferson, who had a voice in the quarterback discussions this offseason as the Vikings’ franchise player. Jefferson attended OTAs in full last year, too, as the Vikings looked to build his chemistry with McCarthy.
Getting every quarterback a high amount of reps with every member of that receiving group and the rest of the offense is more important to O’Connell than funneling them all to a potential No. 1.
“You can’t go into it with a mindset of trying to elevate your quarterback room and get as many talented players as you can in there and then start carving out the reps in March,” O’Connell said. “It really doesn’t work like that.”
It helps, then, that the four QBs are already spending time in Minnesota working together and establishing rapport.
Murray, whose signing last month comes after seven years living in Arizona while with the Cardinals, is in town a few days a week. The two-time Pro Bowl choice and former Heisman Trophy winner is the presumed 2026 starter. It’s hard to imagine the outcome any other way, with the Cardinals paying the bulk of his $36.8 million salary (the Vikings are paying him the league minimum $1.3 million) after he chose Minnesota as the place to try to rejuvenate his career.
The one obstacle could be Murray struggling to pick up O’Connell’s scheme, though that seems unlikely, too. The 28-year-old’s football IQ and recall have been lauded by members of the organization. Additionally, O’Connell seems open to adapting his offense to fit some of Murray’s skill set and previous experience, particularly as an elusive runner.
The Vikings coach also brought in Frank Smith as assistant head coach ahead of Murray’s signing to help adapt the Vikings’ running game and evolve the overall offense.
“I see a lot of ways that we’ll be able to continue the evolution of our offense here in Year 5, but at the same time, principles that I believe Kyler will be able to not only make his own but provide different layers to what we do with some of his experiences,” O’Connell said.
McCarthy, meanwhile, returned recently from training in Southern California with former NFL QB and 3DQB trainer John Beck. O’Connell said he believes McCarthy gained “perspective” through his 10 starts last season, but the Vikings would still like to see a level of consistency from McCarthy on and off the field that they didn’t quite get in 2025.
That is as much a reason for their building out of the quarterback room as anything else: giving McCarthy room to develop and ample resources to help him do so.
The Vikings seem to have a better plan in place than they did before last season, although Wentz is recovering from a season-ending shoulder injury.
Does Murray have the smarts and talent to be the key to the Vikings’ first playoff win five years into O’Connell’s tenure?
“We feel really good about the combination of depth, talent and the fact that we’ve got a room that’s going to push each other,” O’Connell said. “All those guys are gonna have great offseasons and be ready to rock and roll.”
Strib
I also wonder if Frank Smith will be one of those under the radar coaching hires that can make an impact?
================================
PHOENIX – An air of satisfaction hung over Vikings brass early this week at the NFL’s annual league meeting.
That’s deserved, at least for now. In the month since the last league-wide gathering, the NFL scouting combine, they achieved exactly what they said they wanted to at the quarterback position, even with salary cap constraints: build a competitive room from which a bona fide, 17-game starter can emerge.
In March, they added Kyler Murray the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, at a league minimum price tag. And they re-signed veteran Carson Wentz, who was the fill-in starter last season until injured.
The Vikings say they still believe in developing youngsters J.J. McCarthy, who ran the team at the start of the 2025 season, and Max Brosmer, who was thrown into the fire as an undrafted free-agent rookie.
“That blend is going to be great in the room,” Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf said Monday, March 30. “Both experience and development, and talent on all fronts. It’s a great situation to have, and we’re going to come out a lot better for it.”
The Vikings would prefer, as coach Kevin O’Connell has said more than once, to have to start only one quarterback in a season instead of three or four. After a cheeky comment following Murray’s signing that a starter didn’t need to be named in March, O’Connell said Monday that it’s too early to even begin thinking about how reps are divided in the lead-up to the season.
His approach in the next phase of the calendar, organized team activities starting in late May, centers on “learning and teaching.”
O’Connell said he expects OTAs will include the full group of receivers, including Justin Jefferson, who had a voice in the quarterback discussions this offseason as the Vikings’ franchise player. Jefferson attended OTAs in full last year, too, as the Vikings looked to build his chemistry with McCarthy.
Getting every quarterback a high amount of reps with every member of that receiving group and the rest of the offense is more important to O’Connell than funneling them all to a potential No. 1.
“You can’t go into it with a mindset of trying to elevate your quarterback room and get as many talented players as you can in there and then start carving out the reps in March,” O’Connell said. “It really doesn’t work like that.”
It helps, then, that the four QBs are already spending time in Minnesota working together and establishing rapport.
Murray, whose signing last month comes after seven years living in Arizona while with the Cardinals, is in town a few days a week. The two-time Pro Bowl choice and former Heisman Trophy winner is the presumed 2026 starter. It’s hard to imagine the outcome any other way, with the Cardinals paying the bulk of his $36.8 million salary (the Vikings are paying him the league minimum $1.3 million) after he chose Minnesota as the place to try to rejuvenate his career.
The one obstacle could be Murray struggling to pick up O’Connell’s scheme, though that seems unlikely, too. The 28-year-old’s football IQ and recall have been lauded by members of the organization. Additionally, O’Connell seems open to adapting his offense to fit some of Murray’s skill set and previous experience, particularly as an elusive runner.
The Vikings coach also brought in Frank Smith as assistant head coach ahead of Murray’s signing to help adapt the Vikings’ running game and evolve the overall offense.
“I see a lot of ways that we’ll be able to continue the evolution of our offense here in Year 5, but at the same time, principles that I believe Kyler will be able to not only make his own but provide different layers to what we do with some of his experiences,” O’Connell said.
McCarthy, meanwhile, returned recently from training in Southern California with former NFL QB and 3DQB trainer John Beck. O’Connell said he believes McCarthy gained “perspective” through his 10 starts last season, but the Vikings would still like to see a level of consistency from McCarthy on and off the field that they didn’t quite get in 2025.
That is as much a reason for their building out of the quarterback room as anything else: giving McCarthy room to develop and ample resources to help him do so.
The Vikings seem to have a better plan in place than they did before last season, although Wentz is recovering from a season-ending shoulder injury.
Does Murray have the smarts and talent to be the key to the Vikings’ first playoff win five years into O’Connell’s tenure?
“We feel really good about the combination of depth, talent and the fact that we’ve got a room that’s going to push each other,” O’Connell said. “All those guys are gonna have great offseasons and be ready to rock and roll.”
Strib
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
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