MN Vikings QB Competition “Not Close”

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JJ McCarthy and Kyler Murray - Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Original photos: Minnesota Vikings | Edits: Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Vikings will resume their first week of Offseason Team Activities on Friday. Then, players and coaches get a few days off before week two of voluntary OTAs start on Monday (June 1).

Obviously, the only show worth watching at TCO Performance Center right now is the Vikings’ QB competition between newly signed free agent, Kyler Murray and 2024 No. 10 overall draft pick, JJ McCarthy.

It didn’t take long for the latter to spark controversy off the field, when McCarthy spoke about his relationship with Murray as if they were two rival high schoolers competing for a starting job, sitting on two separate sides of the classroom.

Minnesota Vikings QB competition already over?

But on the field, somehow, the difference between the two quarterbacks has reportedly been even more stark than their interviews were. MN Vikings beat writers have now seen JJ and Kyler throw next to each other for a total of two OTA practices. No pads, just shorts and helmets.

Yet, it appears many of them are ready to pick a winner already. Alec Lewis (The Athletic) went as far as to say the Vikings’ QB competition appears “manufactured” because side-by-side, as Kevin Seifert (ESPN) wrote Friday morning, the gap between the two QBs is “not close.”

Nothing about the structure favored one player over the other. But it didn’t have to for the odds to feel dramatically tilted in Murray’s direction.

Alec Lewis – The Athletic

You can only have a genuine competition if there is actual uncertainty about who the best quarterback on the roster is. With the caveat that this was one day in May, with no pads and some drills performed at half speed, it is only fair to point out that the gap between the two quarterbacks was not close.

Kevin Seifert (ESPN)

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Head coach Kevin O’Connell designed these OTA practices as to not favor one quarterback over the other, between Kyler Murray and JJ McCarthy. Reporters in attendance have all noted that both quarterbacks took the same amount of reps with the first team and both received an equal amount of coaching between reps.

But it hasn’t mattered, because the 28-year-old Murray just looks head-and-shoulders better than the 23-year-old McCarthy. As Seifert pointed out in his article, the football has done all the talking this week.

Everything McCarthy does… Murray does better

McCarthy completed most of the same passes that Murray did, and his mechanics look improved. However, everything he did, Murray just did it better. He delivered footballs more accurately, layering them in between different levels of the defense cleaner and routinely made it easy for receivers to make plays after the catch

Seifert even found two throws that were highlighted by the Vikings on social media. In McCarthy’s clip, he hits Jordan Addison on a fade route that should have went for a touchdown, but it was delivered a bit to Addison’s back shoulder so he had to awkwardly twist his body in order to haul it in — which forced him to the ground.

When Murray hit Addison on a similar ball, just the other side of the field, it dropped so perfectly into Jordan’s hands that he didn’t have to break stride, even in the slightest, giving him what would have been a touchdown opportunity in a real game, if he can break one tackle.

Look, most of us who watched JJ McCarthy start 10 games last season for the Minnesota Vikings expected Kyler Murray to beat him out for the 2026 QB1 job. With that being said, I don’t think anybody expected it to happen this quickly — during the first week of OTAs.

Sure, once they get to training camp, put pads on and defensive coordinator Brian Flores is sending masked pressures at both QBs all day, that’s when I expected it to become clear who the MN Vikings starting quarterback would be.

How in the world did the Vikings let this happen?

But right now, when there is no pass rush and should be no pressure. If it looks this obvious to reporters after watching just a couple of helmet and shorts practices, I can’t help but wonder what O’Connell and Minnesota’s coaching staff saw when they visited Ann Arbor and spent days with McCarthy pre-draft.

Because it couldn’t have been that much different than the JJ who can’t hold Kyler’s jock this year at OTAs. If it’s obvious now, then McCarthy has way bigger problems than just growing up as a QB.

Overall, the afternoon was a reminder that McCarthy could continue along the upward trajectory he established at the end of last season — and still fall well short of matching Murray’s experience, arm talent and potential to make big plays in the passing game.

Kevin Seifert (ESPN)

If the gap really is this large between the two, then this is an arm talent thing — accuracy, timing, loft, etc… Fundamental stuff that all top 10 QB draft picks should have in their bag coming out of college… unless you are Michael Vick.

Interestingly enough, Kyler Murray can do both. And as may be finding out the hard way, McCarthy can do neither.

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