The Vikings entered the 2025 season hoping to smoothly transition to J.J. McCarthy as their long-term starting quarterback.
That never came to pass. The former No. 10 pick completed just 57.6% of his passes with more interceptions (12) than touchdowns (11). He also missed time due to three different injuries and, overall, did not show signs of being a franchise QB.
Minnesota then brought in Kyler Murray after he was released by the Cardinals, adding another, more proven passer to their quarterback room. Since Arizona is still paying him $36.8MM this year, the former No. 1 pick was available for a veteran minimum salary, making him a hot commodity on the free agent market. He quickly agreed to a deal with the Vikings, indicating that he would have a chance at their starting quarterback job. But the question remained: would Murray have to take the job from McCarthy, or would the two begin offseason practices on equal footing?
An initial answer has come via NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, who said on the Rich Eisen Show that the Vikings “envision it being a true competition: Kyler Murray vs. J.J. McCarthy.”
On paper, Murray should have a substantial advantage. He has 87 career starts to McCarthy’s 10 with a significantly better completion percentage and passer rating in 2025. But Murray will be learning a new offense in Minnesota, while McCarthy will be entering his third year in Kevin O’Connell‘s system.
It is worth noting that Pelissero specifically mentioned those two quarterbacks as part of the competition and not Carson Wentz or Max Brosmer, who are also in the team’s quarterback room. Brosmer was abysmal in his two starts last year, but Wentz statistically outperformed McCarthy nearly across the board. In theory, that would make him a worthy competitor for the starting job, but Minnesota moved in Murray’s direction and seems more inclined to keep Wentz as a third-stringer.
A competition to see who will be king S**t of turd mountain.
Hopefully JJ will make leaps and bounds in the off-season to take this job…Can’t imagine that Kyler would be the best option..The way JJ played last year I’m sure doesn’t give the Sota faithful any hope..Time for a new era of qb’s so I’ll be pulling for J.J….(need my rookie cards of him to shoot up) lol
I don’t think Kyler should be sweating this one.
Oh, no Wentz?
Murray should win handily, but it’s really, really hard to see how he’s a good fit for this offense. It ran best with a quarterback who does everything the opposite of what Murray does well.
Talent alone definitely swings the competition in Murray’s favor, but I still think that Minnesota should have just signed Rodgers last summer and put off the McCarthy experiment one more year. They have had some many offensive weapons that really just need a distributor who can pick the best matchups and move from read to read, and that’s not Murray’s strength at all. Who knows, though, maybe we’ll all be wrong and Murray will grow immensely in his ability to go through reads and recognize a defense presnap.