Two Top Vikings QB Options Just Became More Available

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Daniel Jones
Credit: Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

This offseason the Minnesota Vikings must figure out their quarterback mess, which they created for themselves this time last year by allowing both Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones to walk out of the building.

Then those two went on to play MVP-level football. Darnold even lead the Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory. Meanwhile back in Minnesota, JJ McCarthy struggled mightily as a redshirt rookie and now appears to be on his way out too.

Jones didn’t make a Super Bowl run, like Darnold, but he did help flip a down and out Indianapolis Colts into a playoff team, before suffering a week 14 achilles tear that ended his season.

Daniel Jones has a number for Minnesota Vikings to consider

Despite the late season injury, Jones’ people are telling NFL insiders that he will be ready for the start of the 2026 regular season. And it sounds like the Minnesota Vikings might believe it because reports over the last 24 hours have the Vikings monitoring the situation in Indianapolis very closely.

Why? Because on Tuesday afternoon, the Colts placed the transition tag on Daniel Jones, as expected. That was good news for the Vikings, because now they’re just an offer sheet away from bringing their former QB back, which is something they’re clearly interested in.

Unlike the franchise tag ($43.895 million), the transition tag costs Indy $37.833 million in 2026. But it also allows the Minnesota Vikings (among others) to negotiate an offer sheet (likely a multi-year deal) that, if Jones signs, the Colts would have to match or lose their 28-year-old QB recovering from achilles surgery.

For most teams, that’s going to be a pretty big leap of faith. He played well in 13 games last year, prior to injury but was benched after 10 games in 2024 with the New York Giants, which is what allowed the Vikings to sign him late in the 2024 season.

Jones spoke glowingly of his time in Minnesota, but didn’t believe he’d get as good of an opportunity to start as he would in Indy. He was right, earning the starting job for the Colts early in camp and parlaying that into a career-best 68% of his passes and had a 19/8 TD/INT ratio.

Obviously, the MN Vikings still need to clear cap space, a process that’s already underway. Even then, are the Vikings really going to make an offer to Jones that he can’t refuse… and the Colts have no choice but to? We may soon find out.

Kyler Murray officially getting cut by Cardinals

Both Kyler Murray and Geno Smith are names we have heard plenty of the past few days. But first, the Arizona Cardinals had to buy him out because. No matter Rob Brzezinski’s reputation, there was no way the MN Vikings were going to clear enough cap space to trade for Kyler Murray… not that’d they’d be willing to anyway.

Well right after the Daniel Jones transition tag news broke, we all learned that the Cardinals have officially informed Kyler Murray of his upcoming release.

Like Jones, Murray comes with injury concerns… though there is some debate over whether his injury last season was legitimate. Either way, unlike his fellow 28-year-old Vikings QB target out in Indianapolis, Murray is fully healthy this offseason.

Murray owns an impressive 67.1% career completion rate, and has thrown 121 touchdowns (60 interceptions) across 87 career games. If Minnesota has Kyler and Daniel Jones in the same tier of QB, getting Murray will be a lot easier.

Paul Allen (KFAN) told his radio audience earlier today that Murray “badly wants to play in Minnesota” and now he can probably be had on a league minimum deal. In theory, however, Jones fits O’Connell’s timing-based offense much better than Murray does.

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