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The Minnesota Vikings are hoping that, under head coach Kevin O’Connell, Kyler Murray can find the consistency that made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2019. Nonetheless, Murray will need to win the starting job over J.J. McCarthy, so it’s not a given that he’ll be under center Week 1.
Nonetheless, if Murray does edge out McCarthy for the starting job, he will be looking to help the Vikings get back to that 2024 season when Minnesota won 14 games.
Despite O’Connell’s success with Sam Darnold, FOX Sports Radio’s Jason McIntyre doesn’t see that success replicating itself in 2026 with Murray.
“Nothing tells me that [Murray is] absolutely going to cook in this scenario,” McIntyre said on the March 13 edition of “Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.”
“I just don’t see a world where all of a sudden it clicks, and all of a sudden Kyler’s doing the homework, putting in the extra reps, first in, last out, all that nerdy stuff that you’ve got to do to get over the top.”
In 87 career games with the Arizona Cardinals, Murray has posted a 92.2 passer rating while throwing for 20,460 yards with 121 touchdowns and 60 interceptions, per StatMuse.
Moreover, McIntyre pointed out the uncertainty surrounding McCarthy, which could lead Murray to win the starting job.
“Now, J.J. McCarthy may just not be good. It’s possible he’s not entirely good at football. I hope that that’s not true. I really believe in this kid. I was a fan of him coming out of Michigan. He obviously did not look great for much of last year. They have a couple good pieces, with [Justin] Jefferson, [Jordan] Addison, and [T.J.] Hockenson, and Alexander Mattison. I mean, they’ve got some pieces.”
Kyler Murray Expected to Win Vikings QB Battle
While the Vikings will let the players determine who wins the job in practice and out on the field, CBS Sports NFL analyst Bryant McFadden already sees Murray being the starter over McCarthy.
“If it’s a quarterback competition, I visualize Kyler Murray winning that competition,” McFadden said on the March 12 edition of CBS Sports HQ. “I think this would be the same situation that we saw a year ago with the Indianapolis Colts when they brought in Daniel Jones.
“They made it known that it would be a quarterback competition between Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson. However it played out, at the end of the day, Daniel Jones won that job. So if that’s the case for Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy, I visualize Kyler Murray winning that job.”
Why Kyler Murray Will Win QB Battle
Additionally, if Minnesota decides to give Murray the job rather than have him earn the starting role in a competition, McFadden believes it’s okay to make the former No. 1 overall pick the starter because he’s a better player than McCarthy.
“If [the Vikings are] just giving him the keys to the car right now, I’m okay with that as well, because I look at Kyler Murray’s entire professional career, outside of what we saw last year in the injury-plagued year,” McFadden added.
“He’s a more talented quarterback than J.J. McCarthy, and that’s no knock on J.J. McCarthy, but he hasn’t really gotten a chance to get his feet wet because of injuries.
“Then when he’s been in the lineup, he’s been inconsistent. But Kyler Murray has shown the ability to be very, very productive in the National Football League. He’s shown the ability to be able to put teams in positions to win ball games.”
Eduardo Razo Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo
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