Pelissero Tries to Explain MN Vikings QB Competition Again

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Minnesota Vikings insider Tom Pelissero
Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings have what feels like a completely different QB room than they did in 2025. But really, after the addition of Carson Wentz on Thursday, most of the Vikings current quarterback depth chart for 2026 looks identical to what it did last season.

Of course, there is one elephant in the room difference, as currently constructed. Atop last year’s (not so dynamic) QB trio of JJ McCarthy, Wentz and Max Brosmer — is 2x Pro Bowler and former No. 1 overall draft pick, Kyler Murray.

But is he really the assumed starter? While most sensible football fans and NFL media members agree Murray is this team’s QB1 next season, the Vikings have maintained publicly that an upcoming training camp will ultimately decide their 2026 quarterback.

Most do not buy whatever propaganda the organization is selling. Realistically, there’s no chance Kyler Murray chooses Minnesota as quickly as he did, had Kevin O’Connell and those in Eagan not given him all the starter vibes he needed while visiting TCO Performance Center.

Tom Pelissero triples down on MN Vikings “QB competition”

Yet “one of us” NFL insider Tom Pelissero (NFL Network) is sticking with the script. Since the moment Minnesota acquired Murray, the Edina native has been riding the “QB competition” narrative harder than any other media member in football.

That didn’t stop on Friday, during Tom’s appearance on KFAN Radio’s “Power Trip Morning Show.” Not only did Pelissero participate in today’s Initials Game, but the National Football League insider also talked for a good 20 minutes about the Minnesota Vikings, most of which centered around the QB room.

Power Trip host Cory Cove asked Pelissero about the QB room and how realistic it really is to think Kyler doesn’t already have the job in his back pocket. Pelissero didn’t even flinch.

Cove: “You sign a guy like Carson [Wentz] who seems to be a guy that like if kyler is the starter and gets hurt and they want a veteran, then you hand it to Carson probably. And if that’s the case, then what are you doing with JJ [McCarthy] in year three?”

Pelissero: “In 2022 and 2024, when the quarterback stayed healthy, Kirk and sam Darnold, the vikings were like 25 and 11 or something like, I mean a really good record. The other two years, You had Jaron Hall start a game. You had to trade for Josh Dobbs, you rolled out Max Brosmer in Seattle.”

This was the plan was, they were going to bring in competition for J.J. McCarthy. They also wanted to bring in a third quarterback just so that they’re not, ‘oh, crap, we got to trade for somebody’ or, ‘oh no, we got to put somebody out there when they’re not ready.’

Power Trip Morning Show – KFAN Radio

Daniel Jones 2025 vs Kyler Murray 2026 courtships

So here’s the thing. Nobody — including the Minnesota Vikings — needs a successful 2026 season more than 28-year-old Kyler Murray, who legitimately has $100’s of millions in future dollars on the line, depending on how well and how often he plays the game of football from September 2026 to January 2027 than Kyler.

Coming to Minnesota, just to duke it out all summer for playing time — when he could have at least shopped around for other starting opportunities makes absolutely no sense, given Murray was inarguably the top free agent quarterback on the market this offseason.

Related: Kwesi Overruled KOC on 2025 Vikings QB Decisions?

Go back to last season, when Daniel Jones came to the Vikings for half a season, then blew up their offseason plans when he bailed for Indianapolis. Why did he leave? Because he felt like he had a better chance to start for the Colts. And why do you think he felt that way?

It’s because that team made his path to a starting job clearer than Minnesota did. Back then, the Vikings were still portraying a ton of confidence in McCarthy. That’s why, heading into this offseason, O’Connell & Co. made it clear they are not going to make the same QB mistakes as last year.

Pelissero sticks to his guns

Yet, Pelissero sticks to his guns and claims Murray is coming here to compete with McCarthy. In fact, Cove even presses him on whether or not he really believes that, and to Tom’s credit… he stands strong. Here is the rest of the transcription from the video above, in case you can’t watch with sound. I would highly recommend watching the entire video at the KFAN YouTube channel (very end of episode).

Pelissero: “There’s a lot of ways this can go. I don’t see this going the way of Carson Wentz is the week one starter. It’s much more likely that this is, all right, If Kyler beats out JJ, JJ is probably the two. Carson’s the three. If it’s not a fit for Kyler in the system and JJ beats him out, JJ starts. Now you’re figuring out, all right, is Kyler the two? Are you trading Kyler? Are you elevating Wentz? But it’s not a Carson Wentz [vs McCarthy thing].

This is not bearing on JJ McCarthy so much as it is they wanted to have optionality within the room. There’s a lot of different things that can happen between now and September or now in January. This is just one more guy who played pretty well in the system. Kevin O’Connell loves Wentz. So it’s a low-risk type of addition to the room where you’re probably going to carry three quarterbacks on the active roster because of what you’ve seen in 2023 and 2025.”

Cove: “So you truly believe, because I don’t — but you’re pretty tapped in. I don’t believe this is an actual quarterback competition. I think it’s Kyler…I don’t think he wants to come here unless he thinks he’s starting week one.”

Pelissero: “No, I mean, he’s definitely coming in with that mentality, but it is going to be a competition. Kyler hasn’t played in this offense before. It may be a hit. It may work out great. It may work out not so great. We don’t know that. And because he’s on a minimum deal, you’re not really taking any type of financial risk by bringing him in.

For Kyler, this was always the spot he wanted to come. This is the best opportunity for him to play, to be a really good coach, to win a job in his mind that he’s going to do, and then hit free agency again in 2027…So let’s see. It could go really well for Kyler. It could go not so well.

So I sitting here right now and listen, there’s a lot of things that happen in the NFL every year sitting here right now. I believe all three of these guys are on the roster in September.

I can’t tell you for sure who’s going to be QB one, but I’d say if I were guessing Carson Wentz is more likely to be QB three than anything, because these are the two guys you’re going into camp with and going, we want to find out which one of these guys is going to rise to the top.”

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