The Minnesota Vikings gave up Sam Darnold after a Pro Bowl season for 1st round pick J.J. McCarthy. One would think the team would have a stronger commitment to such an investment after just one season. Unfortunately for McCarthy, the Vikings team brass doesn’t have that kind of patience. His struggles in 2025, along with Darnold winning the Super Bowl with Seattle, caused a lot of hard feelings to surface inside the team building. Many warned McCarthy wasn’t ready. Head coach Kevin O’Connell didn’t listen, and it cost the team a vital year of what felt like a Super Bowl window. That is how we got to Kyler Murray.
Feeling they couldn’t justify going another season with McCarthy as the guy, Minnesota chose to sign the former Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowler in free agency. They’ve tried to insist it will be a training camp battle between the two. Nobody is fooled. They know it’s Murray’s job. The past few months have operated under that assumption. Yet from how you’re starting to hear people in the Minnesota media talk, Murray’s grip on that job isn’t nearly as strong as you would think.
More was said about it on the Rotoworld Football Show.
Kyler Murray was never the savior people wanted him to be.
People act like he was dropped into Arizona and left to rot by the Cardinals. That was never true. The organization actually did a pretty good job building around him. They provided a head coach who crafted an offensive tailor-made to his strengths. They traded for DeAndre Hopkins from Houston and Kenyan Drake from Miami, providing legitimate weaponry. Next came James Connor in 2021 and Trey McBride in 2022. Last but certainly not least, they gave him left tackle Paris Johnson in 2022.
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The truth is, Kyler Murray regressed after getting his big contract extension. In the three seasons before that, he was a two-time Pro Bowler with 90 touchdowns and 34 interceptions. Since then, he has 63 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. He’s also missed several games with various injuries. He hasn’t looked anything like the star most believed he was for five years. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell fancies himself the quarterback whisperer after what he accomplished with Darnold.
There is a significant difference between the two. Darnold was hungry to prove something when he came to Minnesota. Murray has operated like somebody looking for that next paycheck.
Minnesota is doubling down on O’Connell.
That is what this season is. The organization is gambling that their head coach has the magic touch to bring Kyler Murray back to the level he was when he brought Arizona to the playoffs. The interesting part about this is the type of player he is. This is not the sort of quarterback O’Connell is used to. All of his most notable quarterbacks as an offensive coordinator and head coach fall into the same category: pocket-oriented.
- Jared Goff
- Matthew Stafford
- Kirk Cousins
- Sam Darnold
Murray is not that type of quarterback. He has built his success on his elite scrambling prowess and off-script playmaking. O’Connell has never worked with a quarterback like that before, which begs the question. Will he try to force Murray to play within the system, or will he adjust the offense to fit the quarterback? Both options have significant risks involved. Ben Johnson did a great job of molding the two together last season with Caleb Williams. Perhaps O’Connell will copy that approach.
