Another set of eyes on the QB Comp...
Teasley arrives from the Seattle Seahawks with a reputation for player evaluation. How will the Vikings approach their quarterback situation now that he’s here?
The Seattle Seahawks won a Super Bowl with a young quarterback they drafted in Nolan Teasley’s first year with the organization in 2013 and another one with a veteran free agent in Teasley’s final season there in 2025.
On Wednesday, Teasley was introduced as the Vikings’ new general manager, and the unique timing of his hire means he inherits a roster with both kinds of quarterbacks at the top of the depth chart.
How Teasley and the Vikings ultimately handle Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy in both the short-term and long-term could come to define his tenure.
One question that would make his job both more complicated in some ways and simpler in others is this: What will happen if Murray takes control of the starting job in 2026 and has success with the Vikings?
Kyler Murray and the Vikings salary cap
The Vikings are where they are and Teasley is where he is in part because of one man: Sam Darnold. The Vikings went 14-3 with Darnold in 2024, but his two worst games came in his final two games. With McCarthy slated to return from a rookie year injury and the Vikings itching to turn things over to their No. 10 overall pick in his second year, they let Darnold leave in free agency. He signed with Seattle and won a Super Bowl while McCarthy’s Vikings were out of the playoff picture before you finished Christmas shopping. Darnold worked in Seattle because he played well and had a relatively low cap number ($13.4 million). That would have worked in Minnesota last year, but his number this year ($37.9 million) would have been much more difficult. Murray at $1.3 million is a one-year bargain.
Sam Darnold decision all over again?
But if Murray plays well this season, as La Velle and I talked about, they could be faced with the Darnold question all over again. Do they pay the mid-career veteran QB after one year of evidence? Do they gamble again on a cheaper option like McCarthy, who would still be on his rookie contract in 2027? Or do they go with another drafted QB or another inexpensive veteran? It was already a potentially fascinating question before the Vikings hired Teasley, who of course comes from the organization that paid Darnold when the Vikings didn’t.
What Nolan Teasley said about QBs
The initial impression of Teasley is that he is a man of action more than words. His answers Wednesday tended to be precise and didn’t have wasted verbiage — he was direct but not evasive. An example was his answer to a question about his assessment of the Vikings quarterbacks. “In terms of managing it, we’re going to rely on the coaching staff,” Teasley said. “I think the goal from the outset of the offseason was to build a deep and competitive quarterback room, and I think that was executed.”
Player evaluation acumen
Teasley has a reputation for evaluating talent and matching it to systems. That’s important to any team, but it would be of the utmost importance if Murray does have a strong season that nets him a lucrative long-term deal here. The Vikings would need to lean even more heavily on the draft if Murray and Justin Jefferson were on the books for big cap numbers in 2027. That said, Teasley does come from an organization that pulled off the ultimate “competitive rebuild,” even if he never once uttered his predecessor’s phrase Wednesday.
Will McCarthy be traded?
After McCarthy’s intriguing comments about his relationship with Murray last week, speculation (not reports, which are different) about whether McCarthy wanted to be traded started to circulate. There doesn’t seem to be much upside in Teasley making that one of his first moves, but I suppose you never know.
strib
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
Shakespeare
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
Shakespeare
"O’Connell’s perch provides him with the details behind these snaps — behind everything. He knows the degree of difficulty of throws in his scheme, and he knows whether or not it matters that McCarthy stretches away from the other three quarterbacks before practices like Thursday’s, or that he jogged off the field Thursday before the other three, who stayed behind together.
These snapshots might be fluff, unimportant, distracting. They won’t be worth remembering, either, so long as September comes and the right quarterback is receiving the snap."
Continuation of the HS bull shit.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
Shakespeare
JustInTime wrote:
Continuation of the HS bull shit.
Lewis from the Athletic seems to have a hard on for JJ.
StickierBuns wrote:
Lewis from the Athletic seems to have a hard on for JJ.
I think he’s just reporting what he sees. Regardless, this is not how a team captain should behave. Shows a serious lack of maturity and professionalism. They don’t have to skip to and fro, hand in hand, but you cannot act like a butthurt little bitch.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
Shakespeare
JustInTime wrote:
I think he’s just reporting what he sees. Regardless, this is not how a team captain should behave. Shows a serious lack of maturity and professionalism. They don’t have to skip to and fro, hand in hand, but you cannot act like a butthurt little bitch.
I said after his initial comments last week that I wish JJM could link up with the Mannings or someone because whoever or whatever is in his head right now causing him to isolate, is not helping matters.
pattersaur wrote:
I said after his initial comments last week that I wish JJM could link up with the Mannings or someone because whoever or whatever is in his head right now causing him to isolate, is not helping matters.
That won't change anything. If all this is true, the writing is on the wall really. I mean at some point with all of this smoke coming from the same direction and once its validated by KOC that Murray is QB1....I can't say for sure what might happen with JJ, even this year. I think its possible the staff is more comfortable with Wentz at QB2 than many might believe if McCarthy raises a stink. Plus Teasley might not be a JJ fan as well. But I'd have to see JJ be a malcontent enough to demand to be traded before I'd believe it. He can't be divisive on the sidelines as QB2. I don't THINK he will be, but I'm also surprised by what I've been reading the last3 to 4 days.
StickierBuns wrote:
That won't change anything. If all this is true, the writing is on the wall really. I mean at some point with all of this smoke coming from the same direction and once its validated by KOC that Murray is QB1....I can't say for sure what might happen with JJ, even this year. I think its possible the staff is more comfortable with Wentz at QB2 than many might believe if McCarthy raises a stink. Plus Teasley might not be a JJ fan as well. But I'd have to see JJ be a malcontent enough to demand to be traded before I'd believe it. He can't be divisive on the sidelines as QB2. I don't THINK he will be, but I'm also surprised by what I've been reading the last3 to 4 days.
Agreed. I'm still a believer in McCarthy's upside and would hate to "sell low" and trade him, but we need only look at the Anthony Richardson thread to see that while selling low now might hurt, we could be selling even lower in the future.
StickierBuns wrote:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7333859/2026/06/04/jj-mccarthy-kyler-murray-qb-vikings-kevin-oconnell/
"O’Connell’s perch provides him with the details behind these snaps — behind everything. He knows the degree of difficulty of throws in his scheme, and he knows whether or not it matters that McCarthy stretches away from the other three quarterbacks before practices like Thursday’s, or that he jogged off the field Thursday before the other three, who stayed behind together.
These snapshots might be fluff, unimportant, distracting. They won’t be worth remembering, either, so long as September comes and the right quarterback is receiving the snap."
Yuppers, it may not make a hill of beans difference com September, but none-the-less, its disappointing to me.
On top of the football mechanics challenges this now comes out in the June MN sunshine:
O’Connell hasn’t said it this plainly, but this is one of the lessons from a disappointing 2025 season. Quarterbacks don’t just drive completions, yards and points. Their disposition, their connectivity and their urgency flow to the rest of the team like blood to the rest of the body. Spotting the circulation takes a microscope and expertise. O’Connell saw this lack of distribution as problematic.
Dating back to the NFL Scouting Combine in February, when asked what he would be seeking this spring and summer from the quarterback position, he said an “igniter.” Those abilities express themselves not through interviews or social media posts but through in-person action in real time. In O’Connell’s eyes, real teammate interactions hold far more value than what’s said or insinuated in the press.
“It doesn’t mean that everybody has to be smiling every day,” O’Connell said. “When they speak to (the media), I want them to be open and honest. Because I think it’s all part of having a transparent quarterback competition that allows them to truly demonstrate that they can consistently be the same guy every day.”
O’Connell hasn’t said this publicly, nor has any other Vikings staffer, but the lack of consistency from McCarthy in this vein contributed to the team signing Murray.
McCarthy’s day-to-day disparity first became apparent following his torn meniscus in the fall and winter of 2024. It forced many inside the TCO Performance Center to push for the team to sign Aaron Rodgers.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
pattersaur wrote:
Agreed. I'm still a believer in McCarthy's upside and would hate to "sell low" and trade him, but we need only look at the Anthony Richardson thread to see that while selling low now might hurt, we could be selling even lower in the future.
A QB isn’t something where you are trying to exchange them for value. The goal is to find the next great QB, someone who can get you to multiple super bowls. Whatever value you get out of them is dwarfed by the value that an elite QB brings to the table. If the Vikings got rid of JJM now and locked in compensation for a 2027 3rd, and then he became good for some other team, it would immediately dwarf the risk of his value dropping to a 5th or something.
Kyler Murray isn’t Stafford. He’s not a stud that came from a team that was holding him back. Kyler Murray is more of a Cousins or a Darnold. He’s a guy that hopefully can thrive with an excellent supporting cast, but misses 7 games a season. If you have a Murray, you still need to be trying to find a guy that can carry the team. You don’t trade JJM away because the locker room is uncomfortable. You only trade him away after you are certain he’s nonworkable at the QB position. If you have a 10% of him continuing to grow, you should continue that development pathway.
Teasley is the wild card in all of this..
Just when I thought things were all settled and we have our process to get to September, all of a sudden its a possibility Wentz is Qb2?
That's an extreme, but dayum, things coming out in the open now paint a more uncertain scene at least for me a fan. Have no idea how Eagan feels about it.
IF KOC is being transparent? They seem to be at peace with moving ahead.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
medaille wrote:
.If you have a 10% of him continuing to grow, you should continue that development pathway.
JMO, but don't agree with that at all. You could trade for Anthony Richardson right now and get that percentage. That's way too low to stick with a young guy if that's what they truly believe. A 1 out of 10 chance he could be something? Bye-bye.....and I'm sure Teasley would agree with that. I'm sure they think JJ has a better chance than that, but that's not really saying much. Hell, they could still be very positive on McCarthy, who knows? A QB competition for fans is going to be a roller coaster of thoughts and we've already seen that on this board and elsewhere, lol.
The supplemental draft could be very telling. Sorsby is probably worth a late first, but I can’t see anyone throwing a 1 at a guy with his issues off field.
But, an extra third if Teasley isn’t on board with either QB? There’s a half dozen reasons not to bid on him.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
Shakespeare
JustInTime wrote:
The supplemental draft could be very telling. Sorsby is probably worth a late first, but I can’t see anyone throwing a 1 at a guy with his issues off field.
But, an extra third if Teasley isn’t on board with either QB? There’s a half dozen reasons not to bid on him.
should we bet on it lol!
========================
BEREA, Ohio -- Browns coach Todd Monken said it would be a "slippery slope" to draft Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby in the NFL's supplemental draft if he is ineligible to play college football because of gambling.
Attorneys for Sorsby are seeking a temporary injunction permitting him to play in 2026 after the NCAA ruled him ineligible and denied his request for reinstatement after he placed thousands of bets on college and professional sports, including on his own team, during his career. Sorsby's attorneys asked for a decision by June 15 so that Sorsby can decide on entering the NFL supplemental draft by June 22.
"I don't think we're in a position to want to go down that road," Monken said Monday when asked about Sorsby. "That's my opinion, that's not [general manager Andrew Berry's]. I like the quarterbacks that we have. I think that's a slippery slope when you go down that, irrespective of talent, right? In terms of the situation he's [put] himself in, we all know what that is. He put himself in that situation. And we've seen in other sports with players that have been banned for life from playing in professional sports.
"But from my end of it, kind of a tough angle to go down that road and think that's going to be your franchise quarterback if he's ever eligible to even play in the NFL."
On Tuesday, Berry took less of a hard-line stance when asked about Sorsby.
"No different than we do every year," Berry said. "We'll do the work on all the prospects, and then we'll make the appropriate decision for the organization."
ESPN
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Irrespective of a potential lifetime ban, there’s a ton of potholes to placing a bid on him. You’re getting him late in the offseason. You’d have to redshirt him on the 53 man roster. You’d have to pull a high pick out of the 27 class which many are saying might be the best overall class in the last 30 years. Plus, can you ever really trust this guy?
But, man he’s talented. Prototypical size, plus speed, nice big arm, smooth thrower.
If you think you can bid a 7th, then stash him on the PS for a year, the upside is pretty high. It’s an unusual set of circumstances that could preview what Teasley thinks of our QB room.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
Shakespeare
StickierBuns wrote:
Oh for Pete’s sake.
I looked.
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here”
Shakespeare
I can't see the full article Sticky posted. I know the quote references "Thursday," but is Lewis simply rehashing things McCarthy has already been doing throughout camp, or is he specifically referring to what happened yesterday?
If it's the latter, then it sounds like McCarthy has now put together multiple strong practices, if not been doing it consistently all along.
As for the observations about him stretching separately or jogging off the field before the other quarterbacks, I'm not sure how much stock I'm putting into that without seeing the full context. Lewis himself seems to acknowledge that only O'Connell truly knows whether any of that means something or whether it's just offseason filler that won't matter once the season starts.
That said, people seem to forget that Aaron Rodgers wasn't exactly thrilled sitting behind Brett Favre waiting for Green Bay to make a decision. He was frustrated, vocal about it, and fiercely competitive. At the time, many people admired that fire because it showed how badly he wanted the job. Rodgers is certainly a polarizing figure, especially among Vikings fans, but one thing I always respected was that he never pretended to be someone he wasn't. He was confident in his abilities, highly competitive, and unapologetic about wanting to be the guy.
And honestly, I see a little of that same competitive edge in McCarthy, and I like it.
If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't be all smiles and rainbows either. I'd be frustrated. I'd be motivated. I'd be obsessed with proving people wrong. In a true competition, your focus should be on winning the job, not making sure everyone feels warm and fuzzy about the process.
Once you've earned the position, then you lead the room and help everyone around you. But while the competition is ongoing, I'd expect a player to be singularly focused on his own performance.
Maybe that's just me, but this whole situation has felt unusual from the start. If McCarthy had entered the league behind an established franchise quarterback and spent a couple years waiting his turn, that's one thing. But after everything that's happened, it's hard for me to ignore how odd the optics of this entire situation have been, whether the organization is right or wrong in its evaluation.
At the end of the day, though, if McCarthy is the guy taking meaningful snaps in September and playing well, nobody is going to care where he stretched in June or who he walked off the field with after practice. But if he isn't, I'm sure this will come back around...
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