The Cardinals released Kyler Murray yesterday, and there's speculation he won't be on the market for long. Getting him under contract might not be a tall order for the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota has a young quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, but after last year's disastrous faceplant, the chances of him being the team's Week 1 starter in 2026 seem to be small. During the Kevin O'Connell era, he's basically the only quarterback who hasn't been really productive in this offense.
O'Connell has been running things for four years in Minnesota, and because of injuries and free agent departures, he's had seven different quarterbacks start 3-plus games for him. Five of those guys have averaged over 20 points per week in scoring systems with 4-point TD passes and 6-point runs, plus a point for every 20 passing and 1o rushing yards. Carson Wentz was over 18.
McCarthy averaged just 17 points, and even that's because he ran for a lot more yards per game and touchdowns than any of the others.
| KEVIN O'CONNELL QUARTERBACKS, 2022-2025 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | GS | Pass | TD | Int | Run | RuTD | Pts/G |
| 2023 | Nick Mullens | 3 | 1306 | 7 | 8 | 25 | 0 | 31.9 |
| 2023 | Joshua Dobbs | 4 | 895 | 5 | 5 | 163 | 3 | 24.8 |
| 2023 | Kirk Cousins | 8 | 2331 | 18 | 5 | 25 | 0 | 23.9 |
| 2024 | Sam Darnold | 17 | 4319 | 35 | 12 | 212 | 1 | 22.5 |
| 2022 | Kirk Cousins | 17 | 4547 | 29 | 14 | 97 | 2 | 21.8 |
| 2025 | Carson Wentz | 5 | 1216 | 6 | 5 | 57 | 0 | 18.5 |
| 2025 | J.J. McCarthy | 10 | 1632 | 11 | 12 | 181 | 4 | 17.0 |
Enter Kyler Murray (perhaps). Murray's not only a credible passer (235 yards per game for his career), certainly relative to McCarthy, but he averages 37 rushing yards, with 32 touchdowns on the ground in 87 starts -- better rushing numbers than McCarthy, and dramatically better than nearly all the other quarterbacks O'Connell has worked with. (The Passtronaut, Joshua Dobbs, is close.)
For now it's just speculation, but there seems to be more size to this rumor than either Kirk Cousins or Aaron Rodgers to Minnesota.
I don't know if Murray can resurrect his career with the Vikings. But with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at wide receiver and O'Connell drawing up plays, I don't think he could ask for a better landing spot.
--Andy Richardson
