SI.com: Edmonds expect Murray to have a huge year in Minnesota

[purplefaithful]

Interesting take...I'm psyched!

[MaroonBells]

Interesting take...I'm psyched!

Teo makes a good point about the decision defenses will have to make. Play cover-two man to stop Jefferson and Addison and risk getting burned by Murray’s keepers? Or play zone to keep an eye on Murray and watch Jefferson and Addison have a field day.

It made me wonder when an elite running QB has had receivers like this? Lamar Jackson’s best receivers were Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Hollywood Brown. Josh Allen had Stefon Diggs and nobody else. Gabe Davis, Keon Coleman?

I really don’t think many Viking fans have thought this through. If they all stay healthy, this is going to be a very difficult offense to defend.

[StickierBuns]

Teo makes a good point about the decision defenses will have to make. Play cover-two man to stop Jefferson and Addison and risk getting burned by Murray’s keepers? Or play zone to keep an eye on Murray and watch Jefferson and Addison have a field day.

It made me wonder when an elite running QB has had receivers like this? Lamar Jackson’s best receivers were Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Hollywood Brown. Josh Allen had Stefon Diggs and nobody else. Gabe Davis, Keon Coleman?

I really don’t think many Viking fans have thought this through. If they all stay healthy, this is going to be a very difficult offense to defend.

[purplefaithful]

Teo makes a good point about the decision defenses will have to make. Play cover-two man to stop Jefferson and Addison and risk getting burned by Murray’s keepers? Or play zone to keep an eye on Murray and watch Jefferson and Addison have a field day.

It made me wonder when an elite running QB has had receivers like this? Lamar Jackson’s best receivers were Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Hollywood Brown. Josh Allen had Stefon Diggs and nobody else. Gabe Davis, Keon Coleman?

I really don’t think many Viking fans have thought this through. If they all stay healthy, this is going to be a very difficult offense to defend.

And I hope there are plenty of times when a Mike LB is going to have to cover KM alone and 1:1, thats just not a fair fight. I agree that Murray has not had as complete a surround as 26 Vikes.

Mahomes had Tyreek for a while, not sure who was opposite him anymore...Burrows (not an elite runner but elite none the less) has it damn good at WR, but is pretty snakebite unfortunately.

I'll keep mentioning that I'll bet that locker room is pretty excited to have KM join the team, that just can't be discounted heading into a new season.

[Mattyman]

Teo makes a good point about the decision defenses will have to make. Play cover-two man to stop Jefferson and Addison and risk getting burned by Murray’s keepers? Or play zone to keep an eye on Murray and watch Jefferson and Addison have a field day.

It made me wonder when an elite running QB has had receivers like this? Lamar Jackson’s best receivers were Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Hollywood Brown. Josh Allen had Stefon Diggs and nobody else. Gabe Davis, Keon Coleman?

I really don’t think many Viking fans have thought this through. If they all stay healthy, this is going to be a very difficult offense to defend.

Vikings offense is gonna spread out opposing defenses in a way Vikings fans have never seen.

From what I've read, I don't  see where the Vikings aren't fundamentally  better than anything Murray had in Arizona. On all 3 levels Offense, defense or special teams. 

It's on paper,I get it. But I definitely wanna see how this plays out...

Curious to see if  the Vikings will draft another RB/wr hybrid that will stress the edges of opponents defense

[medaille]

I imagine defenses are going to hit us with lots of quick pressure, forcing Kyler to run and/or take hits before the play has time to develop. Should be ok if our OLine is holding up like they should. Might be a problem if our OLine looks like last year.

I think a lot of it is going to be on how much KOC changes the scheme to suit his players.

[Zanary]

Given that Kyler has some "wheel damage" that's had to heal up, his multi-dimensional abilities are something that will have to be assessed going forward. This was part of my concern as the rumors blew up, because we've taken some damage trying to "fix" injured free agents.

[MaroonBells]

And I hope there are plenty of times when a Mike LB is going to have to cover KM alone and 1:1, thats just not a fair fight. I agree that Murray has not had as complete a surround as 26 Vikes.

Mahomes had Tyreek for a while, not sure who was opposite him anymore...Burrows (not an elite runner but elite none the less) has it damn good at WR, but is pretty snakebite unfortunately.

I'll keep mentioning that I'll bet that locker room is pretty excited to have KM join the team, that just can't be discounted heading into a new season.

There aren't many. Lamar's receivers were largely mid. Vick's receivers were trash. I'm sure I missed a few but I think you might have to go back to Steve Young to find a running QB who played with similar receivers. Young had Rice, Taylor and later on Terrell Owens.

[JimmyinSD]

I imagine defenses are going to hit us with lots of quick pressure, forcing Kyler to run and/or take hits before the play has time to develop.  Should be ok if our OLine is holding up like they should.  Might be a problem if our OLine looks like last year.

I think a lot of it is going to be on how much KOC changes the scheme to suit his players.

I think an even bigger situation will be how KOC will change his scheme and play calling to match up with what the D is throwing at him.  Like you said you expect quick pressure and likely some zone over load blitzes against the OL to force that ball out quicker,  will KOC still be dialing up those passing plays that take 3 or 4 beats to start to open up,  or will he be adjusting the routes and play designs to get the ball out quicker?

[purplefaithful]

A more Kyler Murray-friendly offense

One of the goals in hiring assistant head coach Frank Smith was to elevate and diversify the run game. O'Connell's comments in Phoenix should have piqued the interest of anyone who has watched the Vikings' offense during his tenure.

Smith's arrival, O'Connell said, was "not necessarily foreshadowing for any one particular player we might add, but the idea of really being able to apply a lot of different principles in the run game: zone-based principles, gap, pull-based principles. But also doing it out of the gun, offset gun, pistol. I was thinking out in front of what might be to come, regardless of who we were fortunate enough to add at the position, but that's kind of where the league is going anyway."

Murray famously played in shotgun-heavy offenses during his seven seasons with the Cardinals. The Vikings, on the other hand, have put their quarterbacks under center much more frequently during O'Connell's tenure -- especially in the running game. Over that period, the Vikings have had the third-fewest run plays (404) out of shotgun or pistol formations.

Whether by design or not, Murray's arrival and presumptive role as the starter should coincide with different types of runs -- and run formations -- than Vikings fans might be used to.

ESPN