Latest buzz on Vikings' Kyler Murray-J.J. McCarthy QB1 battle
Here is the latest buzz on how Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy have performed in their competition to lead Minnesota's offense.
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EAGAN, Minn. -- As promised, the Minnesota Vikings have split snaps between quarterbacks Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy through the first seven practices of training camp as part of a declared competition. Beneath the surface, however, daily observers have seen plenty of indications that Murray remains the heavy favorite to win the job.
Both quarterbacks have produced strong and weak moments over roughly 300 snaps during 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, and each has spent time with the first and second teams. In theory, there is enough time for McCarthy to launch a late run. There have been only two padded practices so far and there will be six more days of on-field work before the Vikings' first preseason game.
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But the Vikings have given Murray roughly two-thirds of the snaps with the first-team offense in 11-on-11 drills, a rate that might not carry much meaning for a single practice but is a clear pattern over the course of a week, and he has used them productively. The imbalance can partially be explained by Murray's relative inexperience in the offense, and the need to get him up to speed. But unless it reverses in the coming week, it is hard to imagine McCarthy -- or any player at any position -- winning the job while spending the majority of the most important snaps of camp with the second team.
Instead, McCarthy has spent a significant portion of his summer working with the No. 2 offense but against the No. 1 defense. It is a challenging spot but one that NFL coaches have long used to spur development from young players. His passes have skewed more toward the short-range and midrange variety, with less frequent deep attempts than Murray.
And coincidentally or otherwise, the Vikings have been experimenting with more shotgun and pistol handoffs than they have used in the recent past, particularly in the run game. The Vikings have been the NFL's third-heaviest under-center team in the NFL (47%) during coach Kevin O'Connell's tenure, while Murray's Arizona Cardinals used it at the league's third-lowest rate (18.3%) over his previous seven seasons.
During a recent visit with reporters, O'Connell praised both quarterbacks and cautioned against a search for tendencies to their deployment. He did, however, say Murray has "shown improvement every single day" and said it was clear that Murray worked hard to study the offense during his summer break. O'Connell said he was encouraged that Murray has hit some downfield throws but added: "We're just trying to implement our offense. We're trying to really focus on some foundational things that the quarterbacks play a big role in, but it's an all-11 thing right now for sure, regardless of what personnel grouping we're in."
Let's take a closer look.
Kyler Murray, 1, and J.J. McCarthy continue to battle for the Vikings' starting quarterback position. AP Photo/Abbie Parr Kyler Murray Two factors prompted the initial assessment that Murray was the favorite to win the job.
First, Murray was a top-15 quarterback in the NFL during his time with the Cardinals, based on combined QBR of players with enough action plays to qualify. He was not a superstar, but he had established a clear baseline performance, even if he hadn't played in the exact offense O'Connell runs. The amount of ground that McCarthy would have to make up to match Murray's baseline, based on McCarthy's performance in 2025, was substantial.
Second, the Vikings had already fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who drafted McCarthy. That meant Murray would not need to overcome any organizational inertia that might have favored McCarthy, whom the Vikings used the No. 10 draft pick to select in 2024.
Both factors have featured prominently this summer.
Murray has had his share of the kind of miscommunications that would be expected for a quarterback in a new offense, including several throws that didn't match with the receivers' route. One of them, at the end of a rough two-minute drill Monday, prompted O'Connell to end the practice early.
But there have been no indications that Murray is fundamentally uncomfortable with or incapable of what the Vikings have asked him to do, either to the naked eye or in discussions behind the scenes.
He has found receiver Justin Jefferson on a series of deep crossing routes, while Jauan Jennings and Tai Felton have caught touchdowns on deep posts, and he has demonstrated a level of touch, arc and accuracy that McCarthy is still working to master.
Some might have winced at the jump ball Murray threw toward Jefferson and into double coverage during a two-minute drill Wednesday. But Jefferson jumped over cornerback Isaiah Rodgers and safety Theo Jackson to make the catch, a reminder that some receivers merit riskier throws than others.
.@JJettas2 ✈️✈️ pic.twitter.com/kOoqRGafil
In short, Murray has performed at the level to be expected from a quarterback with his performance profile, within the context of adapting to an entirely new offense. That assessment matches the expectations he expressed when camp first began.
"I feel great," Murray said July 29. "Really helped me going through OTAs for sure. Having done it once now, obviously this time it's about to be real, but I truly believe that going through OTAs has prepared me for what's to come."
J.J. McCarthy
McCarthy has not appeared as frenetic as he did during his worst moments of last season and clearly has a full understanding of the offense. In retrospect, however, the expectation he set out during his own July 29 meeting with reporters has proved prescient.
Speaking about his pre-camp discussions with O'Connell, McCarthy said: "Conversations were great. Just all about doing my job and doing it to the best of my ability, taking completions, taking what the defense is giving me, making smart decisions, and at the end of the day, just doing my job. Very simple."
McCarthy's time in full team drills has been notable for the number of occasions that appear designed to get him into a rhythm with a bootleg or another quick, short-range pass. They represent many of his completions over the first week, although one of his interceptions came when linebacker Jake Golday tipped a short pass McCarthy threw while on the run.
McCarthy has thrown some well-placed deep-corner or out routes to receivers Dontae Fleming and Myles Price, but overall his accuracy has been inconsistent.
Some of his passes over the middle have appeared late or slightly off target and resulted in incompletions. Earlier in the two-minute drill that O'Connell eventually ended early, cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. stepped in front of a pass to Jefferson on a crossing route for an interception.
Tuesday, he overthrew three consecutive passes during a red zone period against air -- with no defenders in the drill. On the first, veteran running back Aaron Jones Sr. launched himself into a full-body dive to get closer to the ball but could not make the catch.
Reasonable people can argue about exactly where McCarthy is on his developmental timeline. But no objective observer to training camp could say that he has made up the ground necessary to truly challenge Murray.
Scheme
Murray began his time as an NFL quarterback in a shotgun-based Air Raid offense similar to what he used in college. His relative inexperience beginning a play under center, which O'Connell has used in part to build play-action concepts that set up downfield throws, has been cited as one of Murray's potential roadblocks to success in Minnesota.
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But Murray is not the only newcomer to the Vikings' offense. O'Connell hired assistant head coach Frank Smith in part to help diversify his running game, and the frequency with which the Vikings have at least practiced running out of spread formations has been notable. Murray has displayed no observable difficulties under center, and offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said this week that Murray has proved to be "very comfortable playing any which way you want him to play football."
Phillips, however, did acknowledge the diversification of formations the Vikings are exploring.
"We have been mixing in some [shotgun], some pistol, like a lot of teams are doing, and for different reasons," he said. "Certain defenses have gun checks, under [center] checks. Does pistol put them into gun check, or do they treat that as under? It just presents some different looks and different angles for the defense as long as we can master it. But it's been fun to change up a little bit to some under, some gun, some different ways of running the football, from under from gun, it's been a lot of fun this camp."
