It didn’t take a single preseason game for the Minnesota Vikings to decide who will enter the 2026 NFL season as their starting quarterback. On Tuesday, which is two weeks after veterans reported to Vikings training camp, head coach, Kevin O’Connell, anointed free agent addition, Kyler Murray, as the QB1. The former Arizona Cardinals signal caller beat out 2024 first-round pick, J.J. McCarthy, for the starting job.
Murray had been the frontrunner to earn the starting job from the moment he joined Minnesota in mid-March. While the $1.3 million the Vikings are paying him is more in line with what a backup would make, the quarterback is still collecting over $35 million from Arizona based on his prior contract with the team.
O’Connell discussed what led to Murray earning the job ahead of the team’s first preseason game on Saturday versus the New York Giants.
“In my opinion, he’s got the skill set and the abilities not only just from the standpoint of accuracy and his ability to affect the game with his athleticism, but he’s also proven to be smart, very hardworking, and to be able to take in a lot of information and churn that out,” O’Connell said, adding that this announcement also allows Murray to have more time with the first-team offense during training camp.
“Now we really want to give him the opportunity to really start building a comfort level not only with the system but with the guys.”
After being a Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Oklahoma and being the first overall draft pick in 2019, Murray had a star-crossed career in the desert. During his seven seasons with the Cardinals, he was named Offensive Rookie of the Year, made two Pro Bowls, and is Arizona’s all-time leader in completion percentage (67.1 percent). He electrified with both his arm and his legs, joining Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are the only players with at least 20,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards over the last seven seasons.
However, while Murray piled up the stats, he didn’t accumulate enough wins to hold onto his job with the Cardinals. He went 38–48–1 as a starter and made the postseason just once, where he threw zero touchdowns with two interceptions as Arizona lost its 2021 Wild Card game to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.
His final season with the team ended after just five games due to a foot injury. His replacement, journeyman Jacoby Brissett, ended up with a higher passer rating than Murray and enters the year as Arizona’s QB1. Murray’s foot injury was simply the latest of a number of ailments that the 5-foot-10 quarterback suffered as he missed a total of 30 games over the last five seasons.
But now he gets another shot as a team’s QB1, and it’s the team he actually grew up a fan of. Despite being born and raised in Texas, Murray was a childhood fan of the Vikings as his youth football team was also called the Vikings.
He shared his thoughts on being the team’s chosen starting quarterback.
“I don’t feel any pressure. I look at this as a blessing. I get to play the game that I love every single day. No pressure at all—just come out here and play the game that I love to play. Be myself and let the chips fall where they may. I don’t gotta do too much. I have a great surrounding cast around me. I’m thankful.”
That supporting cast is headlined by wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who holds the NFL records both for most receptions (579) and most receiving yards (8,480) through a player’s first six seasons. That comes despite shoddy quarterback play for Minnesota, especially last year, as Jefferson had his fewest yards and touchdowns.
McCarthy was the team’s primary starting quarterback in 2025, going 6–4 across his 10 games under center. Veteran Carson Wentz also started five games, going 2–3, while undrafted rookie, Max Brosmer, went 1–1 across two starts.
Those three are all still with Minnesota but clear backups to Murray. Despite McCarthy getting benched ahead of his second active season—as he missed his 2024 rookie year due to injury—his head coach isn’t entirely writing him off.
O’Connell was asked if McCarthy still had a future in Minnesota, and the coach responded “absolutely.” He then brought up the fact that McCarthy has just 10 games of NFL experience under his belt.
If anything, McCarthy definitely has youth on his side as he’s just 23 years old. That makes him younger than Ty Simpson, who was a first-round pick by the Rams in this year’s draft, as well as Tennessee’s Cam Ward, who was the first overall selection in last year’s draft.
