{"id":658287,"date":"2026-05-22T10:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/658287\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T10:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:34:12","slug":"nfls-make-or-break-players-in-2026-keon-coleman-c-j-stroud-among-11-individuals-at-a-crossroads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/658287\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL’s make-or-break players in 2026: Keon Coleman, C.J. Stroud among 11 individuals at a crossroads"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m taking a bit of writer’s liberty here by lumping Murray and McCarthy into one spot because 2026 is pivotal for both of them.<\/p>\n

Murray is just a couple of months removed from being unceremoniously released<\/a> by the team that made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2019 before ultimately soft-benching him in 2025 for … Jacoby Brissett<\/a>. McCarthy, meanwhile, flopped so hard in his first season as Minnesota’s starter that the Vikings quickly (and eagerly) moved to sign Murray<\/a> as soon as he became available.<\/p>\n

Minnesota’s leaders will tout the benefits of competition when marketing this QB situation entering 2026, but make no mistake: These are two quarterbacks fighting for their futures as starters in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Murray has struggled with injuries and inconsistency in recent years and couldn’t survive the second coaching change of his career in Arizona. He also never got on the same page with former No. 4 overall pick Marvin Harrison Jr.<\/a> in their season and a half spent together, a reality that proved damning to his chances of staying in Arizona.<\/p>\n

McCarthy’s first season as the Vikings’ top dog was fraught with inconsistent mechanics and performance, and remarkably inconsistent availability from week to week due to injury. Head coach Kevin O’Connell — a former NFL quarterback who owns a reputation for pairing well with signal-callers (see: Sam Darnold<\/a>‘s renaissance season in 2024) — couldn’t make much progress with McCarthy, whose lack of consistency and participation doomed a team that still managed to win nine games despite owning zero stability under center.<\/p>\n

In one season, the rosy outlook attached to McCarthy soured. Thus, Murray arrives with a chance to rehabilitate his reputation in a fashion the Vikings hope will mirror Darnold’s rebirth. If Kyler succeeds, he’ll steal McCarthy’s job. If he struggles, McCarthy will have another (and perhaps his last) chance to command the top spot on the depth chart. In theory, one of the two will win out — or the Vikings will slide back into the QB market next spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’m taking a bit of writer’s liberty here by lumping Murray and McCarthy into one spot because 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[4687,1829,1327,15354,1807,6256,3687,1822,1799,1816,4057,5491,4058,6343,28664,88438,1830,95482,31117,8851,259077,977,349,6257,99],"class_list":["post-658287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-analysis","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-bryce-young","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-c-j-stroud","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-deshaun-watson","tag-george-pickens","tag-houston-texans","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-kayvon-thibodeaux","tag-keon-coleman","tag-kyler-murray","tag-marvin-harrison-jr","tag-michael-penix-jr","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-myles-murphy","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-no-minute","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}