Guess it will be a good thing for the Vikings if both play well and make it a difficult decision. But then next year the decision will be hard to get right. If the older, more experienced but also injury prone Murray lights it up, do we sign him long term and let JJM walk? Or if JJ has success in limited opportunities this year, do we move forward with him and let Murray walk?

greediron wrote:

Guess it will be a good thing for the Vikings if both play well and make it a difficult decision. But then next year the decision will be hard to get right. If the older, more experienced but also injury prone Murray lights it up, do we sign him long term and let JJM walk? Or if JJ has success in limited opportunities this year, do we move forward with him and let Murray walk?

The more time I have think about this, the more concerned I get with this competition as it pertains to what it might mean for the Viking's near term future. Is the outcome when its all said and done another hard decision? One where if you get it wrong, you let a really good talent leave the team and watch that person flourish elsewhere? I hope this doesn't end up doing the opposite of what is intended. We'll see....

And I would say its a bit overblown at this point how much JJ may have 'improved'.....no way to know until the bullets are live really. Its just OTAs.

#Vikings rookies will report to Minnesota for training camp on July 26th, with veterans returning on July 28th.

A little over a month away until football returns. pic.twitter.com/tOj4wvGL42

— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) June 22, 2026

StickierBuns wrote:

The more time I have think about this, the more concerned I get with this competition as it pertains to what it might mean for the Viking's near term future. Is the outcome when its all said and done another hard decision? One where if you get it wrong, you let a really good talent leave the team and watch that person flourish elsewhere? I hope this doesn't end up doing the opposite of what is intended. We'll see....
And I would say its a bit overblown at this point how much JJ may have 'improved'.....no way to know until the bullets are live really. Its just OTAs.
https://x.com/vikingzfanpage/status/2069089607929528813

Exactly. And will we make the wrong decision to make sure we don't repeat the Darnold decision? Despite the fact that Darnold would have struggled mightily with our 2025 offensive line issues.

I still hold hope that JJM takes the job, either in TC or midseason and runs away with it. That way we have a young franchise QB we drafted that can be our QB for a long time. I don't trust Murray. His game is too dependent on off-schedule plays and the running QBs just don't survive in the NFL.

Wasn't it around this time last year when we started seeing first hand and hearing how much Drake Maye and Caleb Williams improved from their rookie seasons? They were the #1 and #3 picks in the same draft and they were/are still learning and figuring things out, with perfect health and full reigns in both offseasons and regular seasons their rookie years. That is the natural progression for QBs as there is a lot to learn and understand, adjust, develop, and adapt to, in the NFL to college.

This is why it boggles my mind that so many have given up on this kid and that he most likely won't get a chance to show his improvement/development this season unless Kyler gets hurt.

it's easy to work on your throwing and layering the ball when you are in a no touch red jersey during OTAs. That is a long way from doing it during live games.

rf54 wrote:

it's easy to work on your throwing and layering the ball when you are in a no touch red jersey during OTAs. That is a long way from doing it during live games.

Agreed, but its the same thing with Kyler's weakness's.

It'll be interesting to hear how KOC tries to balance putting his QBs under pressure but protecting them from injury.

rf54 wrote:

it's easy to work on your throwing and layering the ball when you are in a no touch red jersey during OTAs. That is a long way from doing it during live games.

Right?!

Whether it's how well K1 knows the playbook or how efficiently he gets em in/out of the huddle, or how JJM can suddenly layer a pass, it's all just silly in OTA's and installations.

Going to be a long while till training camp, lots to endure from the press.

medaille wrote:

Agreed, but its the same thing with Kyler's weakness's.
It'll be interesting to hear how KOC tries to balance putting his QBs under pressure but protecting them from injury.

BFlo willl send the kitchen sink at those guys day 1 of camp is my prediction...

It's the test KOC and Teasley need to see; who can they rely on at QB1 come GB opener.

Now how much he plays QB1 in a pre-season game? I would guess no more than a series.

I also think QB1 will be decided sooner than later in camp.

Why Vikings seemingly aren't worried about Kyler Murray amid JJ McCarthy competition

Story by Zac Wassink, Yardbarker

• 5h •

2 min read

One report that claimed neither Kyler Murray nor J.J. McCarthy "performed drastically better than the other" during Minnesota Vikings' springtime workouts open to media members predictably sparked concern among Minnesota fans.

On Monday, Vikings reporter Alec Lewis of The Athletic shared why head coach Kevin O'Connell and others within the organization seemingly aren't concerned about what they saw from Murray through the club's mandatory minicamp. 

Vikings wanted to challenge Kyler Murray this spring

"The most notable aspect of workouts was Kyler Murray’s progression in head coach Kevin O’Connell’s system," Lewis wrote about Minnesota's springtime practices. "The Vikings didn’t dumb down the complexity for Murray. If anything, the team installed the full breadth of concepts and play calls to challenge Murray. He looked uncomfortable at times, working his way through the lengthy verbiage and downfield route distributions, but the Vikings believed this would be best in the long run."

Murray expressed some frustration over the fact that he had been tasked with learning a new offense while splitting reps with McCarthy. That said, Murray seems to have the support of multiple teammates, some of whom previously hinted they did not have all that much faith in McCarthy. 

Is Kyler Murray the favorite to win the starting job "barring major setbacks?"

One report said that "Murray remains the favorite to win the starting job in training camp, even as incumbent J.J. McCarthy made clear moves to stabilize his rocky 2025 performance." Lewis seems to think such assessments are accurate as of the fourth Monday of June. 

"The competition with young quarterback J.J. McCarthy will continue into training camp," Lewis added. "Barring major setbacks in terms of health or scheme understanding, the platform should exist for Murray to prove he is deserving of the starting job in an offense with loads of weapons." 

Both Murray and McCarthy should take plenty of snaps during Minnesota's preseason opener at the New York Giants on Aug. 15. It remains to be seen if O'Connell will name his Week 1 QB1 shortly after that contest wraps up. 

FourCornersViking wrote:

Why Vikings seemingly aren't worried about Kyler Murray amid JJ McCarthy competitionStory by Zac Wassink, Yardbarker
• 5h •
2 min read

One report that claimed neither Kyler Murray nor J.J. McCarthy "performed drastically better than the other" during Minnesota Vikings' springtime workouts open to media members predictably sparked concern among Minnesota fans.
On Monday, Vikings reporter Alec Lewis of The Athletic shared why head coach Kevin O'Connell and others within the organization seemingly aren't concerned about what they saw from Murray through the club's mandatory minicamp. 
Vikings wanted to challenge Kyler Murray this springMurray expressed some frustration over the fact that he had been tasked with learning a new offense while splitting reps with McCarthy. That said, Murray seems to have the support of multiple teammates, some of whom previously hinted they did not have all that much faith in McCarthy. 
Is Kyler Murray the favorite to win the starting job "barring major setbacks?"One report said that "Murray remains the favorite to win the starting job in training camp, even as incumbent J.J. McCarthy made clear moves to stabilize his rocky 2025 performance." Lewis seems to think such assessments are accurate as of the fourth Monday of June. 
Both Murray and McCarthy should take plenty of snaps during Minnesota's preseason opener at the New York Giants on Aug. 15. It remains to be seen if O'Connell will name his Week 1 QB1 shortly after that contest wraps up.

Seems like YardBarker likes to throw lots of crap against the wall hoping some will stick. I looked at their "Jefferson taking shots at McCarthy" article and the Addison one. The actual quotes don't seem to bear out the "controvery" YB is trying to gin up.

IceRatz16 wrote:

Wasn't it around this time last year when we started seeing first hand and hearing how much Drake Maye and Caleb Williams improved from their rookie seasons? They were the #1 and #3 picks in the same draft and they were/are still learning and figuring things out, with perfect health and full reigns in both offseasons and regular seasons their rookie years. That is the natural progression for QBs as there is a lot to learn and understand, adjust, develop, and adapt to, in the NFL to college.
This is why it boggles my mind that so many have given up on this kid and that he most likely won't get a chance to show his improvement/development this season unless Kyler gets hurt.

ITs a great question...

The reality for KOC/Teasley may just be that K1 is the better QB right now, and they owe it to that locker room to play the best guy.

Neither NE or CHI had a former PB QB on their roster, under 30 years old that I can recall. Plus both their QB's were able to avoid the injury bug thats plagued McCarthy and hindered his development since literally day 1.

Very different situation to work through for the Vikings to find that "best guy."

All that said? I still hope McCarthy can reach that franchise level and do it here for us. I'm just not convinced it'll be in 26.

purplefaithful wrote:

Right?!
Whether it's how well K1 knows the playbook or how efficiently he gets em in/out of the huddle, or how JJM can suddenly layer a pass, it's all just silly in OTA's and installations.
Going to be a long while till training camp, lots to endure from the press.

BFlo willl send the kitchen sink at those guys day 1 of camp is my prediction...
It's the test KOC and Teasley need to see; who can they rely on at QB1 come GB opener.
Now how much he plays QB1 in a pre-season game? I would guess no more than a series.
I also think QB1 will be decided sooner than later in camp.

What I mean, is that a lot of the online criticism that I’ve seen for Kyler seems to suggest that he’s become more sensitive to becoming injured as he’s gotten older and it’s affected his mechanics and decision-making (like collapsing into a sack to make the hit less, rather than taking the hit after making a deep throw. Or prematurely bailing out of the pocket at the first sign of pressure and running right into a contain guy) Other people have suggested that he has trouble seeing over the Oline and reading a defense, and I do agree that Flores can help test that, but I think he’ll need live game reps to test the first issues to get a feel for whether or not they’ll be limitations in this offense.

Similar to the limitations we’ll have on JJM’s processing issues. I don’t really believe that JJM has a touch issue as much as he’s been throwing it hard and his mechanics have gone to crap because he’s slow reading a defense. While I do agree that Flores is a challenge to the offense in practice, I think there’s a potential issue with practicing against his defense day in and day out, is that maybe we’re not providing our QBs the defensive looks they’re actually going to see on game day, so for a guy with limited snaps like JJM, he might be seeing defenses for the first time on game day in the same way that other young QBs have never seen a defense like Flores’s.

I kind of imagine they’ll each get 2-3 drives in game 1 and then Brosmer will get the rest.  If it’s still close, I think they’ll do it again for game 2.  Ultimately, unless JJM is clearly ahead of Murray, I think Murray will get the starter job and JJM/Brosmer will split the time in game 3.  I doubt Wentz sees a snap in preseason or maybe like one drive.