The Minnesota Vikings have already made their choice for who will be the starting quarterback to start the season. It is not their number 1 draft pick from 2024, selected 10th overall. This off-season the Vikings signed former Arizona Cardinals veteran quarterback Kyler Murray to a free agent contract. Murray gets the keys to the Vikings car while JJ McCarthy, last year’s starter, will be bumped to the back seat of the Vikings quarterback room. The Vikings have yet to play a preseason game, so the coaching staff must have liked what they saw at the practices to name Murray their guy for QB 1. Seeing Sam Darnold. who the Vikings had as their starting quarterback in 2024, then go Seattle and help the Seahawks win it all last season must be weighting on their minds Enough that they needed to name Murray the starter now rather than later.

JJ McCarthy had an unfortunate injury in the preseason of 2024 that sidelined him for the rest of the 2024 season. That’s when Sam Darnold got the starting job for the Vikings. Darnold was a former first round pick by the Jets in the NFL 2018 draft as he was picked 3rd overall. In three seasons with the Jets he was labeled a first round bust. His starting record with the Jets those three seasons was 13-25. Then he escaped New York, went to Carolina for two seasons, and ended up with a losing record there of 8-9. After Carolina, Darnold spent 1 season with San Francisco, had one start, and took a loss. It may have been Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers head coach, & the way he ran his offense and what he wanted his QB’s to do in his scheme. Maybe Darnold took some of that knowledge with him to Minnesota. Then being coached by the Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, another offensive genius in the NFL. Perhaps we are all wrong and Darnold sold his soul to the devil to figure out the NFL. Darnold then put up a pair of 14-3 records his last two seasons in the NFL. One with the Vikings. One with Seattle. The Vikings almost had the number 1 seed, but a loss to the Lions in the last game of the season meant they ended up as a wild card. Then were quickly dispatched in the first round of the post-season because Darnold’s two bad games came at the end in crunch time. Those two games the Vikings thought, “Well, we can move on from Darnold as we still have our number 1 pick from 2024 to guide this high octane offense in 2025.” Darnold’s magic season paid off with a nice hefty contract from the Seahawks. Darnold did the same thing in regular season as he did with the Vikings. Then in post-season he rocked it all the way through the playoffs and in the Superbowl. The Vikings did not make the post-season. McCarthy had a 6-4 record overall as a starter. He also missed some games due to injuries. In those 10 games, McCarthy had 11 touchdown passes with 12 interceptions running the Minnesota offense. While Darnold had 35 touchdown passes with the same amount of interceptions in 2024 wearing the purple and white plus played all 17 games.

Kyler Murray comes to the Vikings with a losing record behind center after 7 years in Arizona. Murray has played in 87 NFL games and has a record of 38-48-1 as a starter. Darnold came in to the Vikings the same way. Murray is also a former number 1 draft pick who was selected number 1 overall in 2019. In 7 seasons Murray has only guided the Cardinals to one post-season and has only played in 1 playoff game which resulted in a loss. You can see Murray and Darnold have some things in common. Murray was never labeled a first round bust as Darnold was. Murray started his career off stronger than Darnold as he was named AP Rookie of the year. Murray is also a 2x pro-bowler. The biggest question of them all is: What have you done lately? Murray has a hard time staying on the field. Last year he played in 5 games. Then in 2023 he managed to play in only 8 games. In 2022 he played in 11 games. In 2024 Murray did play in all 17 games for the Cardinals. Murray is a duel threat quarterback who has tallied up 20,460 passing yards in his career. He has thrown 121 touchdown passes compared to only 60 interceptions. With his legs he has rushed for 3,193 rushing yards in his career and has 32 rushing touchdowns. Murray is only 29 years of age.

Two teams from the NFC North made the post-season last year. The Bears and the Packers. The Lions were close. However the Lions made back-to-back post-season play in the 2023 and 2024. The NFC North should once again be a solid division with the Vikings included. Kyler Murray has played in the NFC West for years with great Rams, Seahawks, and 49ers teams playing well at the same time. The Cardinals never had a defense like the Vikings have had the last two seasons. The Vikings have a solid running game. The Vikings have one of the best wide receivers in the game with Justin Jefferson. The Vikings also have multiple play makers. Murray has had some talented pieces he has played with including last year. The Vikings always have had success with signing veteran talented quarterbacks thrown away by their former teams. The Vikings have had a different starting QB every year in the last 4 seasons. Murray is only 29 years of age and he will have lots to prove in his own mindset. He will be playing with a chip on his shoulder. As for JJ McCarthy, his third season he could still be developed as a future asset for the Vikings or could make a nice trade piece as well if they can improve his stock. McCarthy is only 23 years of age and was thrown into the starting role last year which was his rookie year. His first season being injured he just watched and learned. This year he will do the same thing, but he will be practicing while he’s holding the clip board. He will have to be ready because Murray could be hurt as he does have an injury history that could hand the keys right back to him. The Viking philosophy is get everyone on the offense on the same page naming Murray the starter. McCarthy knows his role. Now they can practice this over and over and get Murray up to speed with all his new weapons he will have at his disposal. The Vikings got out of the gates poorly last year even though they won their first game of the season in week 1. The Vikings in the second half got hot and strung together some victories. I expect the Vikings to be back in the post-season picture even with the log jam in the NFC North. Three of the teams may make the post-season. The Vikings just don’t want to be the one at home watching everyone else battle it out in the post-season.