Meanwhile, J.J. McCarthy is still trying to find his way, but recent results have indicated that the youngster may be turning a corner. No matter how McCarthy finishes out his redshirt rookie season, the MN Vikings are expected to seek a veteran quarterback addition this offseason.

They could go for a one-year veteran like Aaron Rodgers, should he return for yet another season — or even knock on Daniel Jones’ door again, coming off season-ending injury. Of course, they could go an entirely different direction too.

Jeremy Fowler sparks Kyler Murray to Vikings steam

On Wednesday, ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler looked at the state of the NFL, prior to Week 16. There, he got into the dark cloud currently hanging over the Arizona Cardinals — which is their relations with QB Kyler Murray.

At this point an offseason trade that sends the 28-year-old dual-threat quarterback to another organization seems inevitable. And when it happens, according to Fowler, a soft landing spot in Minnesota “would be ideal”.

This leads to a conversation on Kyler Murray, whom the Cardinals are subtly — or quite obviously — trying to stash to preserve his health for a potential trade this offseason. His nearly $37 million in guarantees on the 2026 books complicates the market for his services, but Murray is 28 and isn’t far removed from fringe top-10-QB status.

Does a safe landing spot exist for Murray? Working with, say, Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota would be ideal, but J.J. McCarthy has shown improvement over the past two weeks. The Raiders and Jets are among teams that appear to be in transition at quarterback. Whether a team takes a chance on Murray’s maligned career — and gives up draft capital and financial resources to do it — remains to be seen.

Jeremy Fowler

Kyler Murray has played just five games this season, completing 68.3% of his passes while throwing for 6 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The Arizona Cardinals are 2-3 in Murray’s starts this season.

The first overall pick in 2019 signed a five-year, $230 million deal in 2022, meaning he still has two years remaining on his current contract. Arizona can’t really cut Murray, as he’s currently carrying a $99 million dead cap hit.

No doubt, trading for Murray would be an aggressive bet on a middling player, but O’Connell may view him as a buy-low high-end talent, capable of elevating his offense to places that JJ McCarthy cannot physically take it. Only time will tell…

Was this Kyler Murray's last touchdown as an Arizona Cardinal? pic.twitter.com/fK9EovIiL4

— SleeperCardinals (@SleeperAZCards) November 13, 2025

Now working through the concussion protocol and unlikely to play on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, it’s the Max Brosmer show. Short of the former Minnesota Gophers quarterback playing lights out, a new direction will probably will be needed next year.

That new direction might just wind up being a chance to right the wrong of their 2025 offseason.

Daniel Jones on the Vikings radar

Last season, the Minnesota Vikings brought Daniel Jones in after he was cut loose by the New York Giants. He learned a ton, and after the year the team wanted him back. He wasn’t going to start though, and that made his decision easy. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler says that Minnesota might be looking to reverse course in 2026.

A few people inside the league I’ve spoken to wonder whether Minnesota can follow the Colts’ blueprint from this past offseason, bringing in a veteran/reclamation project to compete with McCarthy and potentially start — similar to Daniel Jones vs. Anthony Richardson Sr. in Indy.

The funny thing about that scenario is Jones would be an ideal fit in Minnesota, where he backed up Sam Darnold last season. But as the top free agent quarterback, he will score a sizable deal in Indianapolis or elsewhere. Still, the Vikings really liked Jones, and their situation this offseason will be far different than the one from a year ago. Making a play for Jones would give him multiple options to consider.

Jeremy Fowler – ESPN

Rather than being 4-7, the Minnesota Vikings could have been a competitive team had they simply told Jones he was going to be the guy. In that scenario, McCarthy would have needed to beat out a veteran after spending his entire rookie season injured while getting zero reps.

It always seemed logical that Jones could thrive in an ideal environment, which is what Minnesota presented for 14-game winner Sam Darnold. Now in a good environment, Jones has the Colts owning an 8-3 record with a 69.1 completion rate and a 17/7 TD/INT.

Minnesota got cute thinking they had the perfect plan for McCarthy, while both quarterbacks they already employed were more perfect answers for them. Darnold’s payday didn’t need to be met, but Jones was definitely the right answer. Maybe they’ll fix the problem next season.

Not just Jones or bust for Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings spent a boatload of money this offseason. The intention was for the roster to win immediately. Unfortunately the problem was that McCarthy was never positioned to get them there. Fowler sees other stopgap quarterbacks capable of stopping a long term rebuild too.

Rodgers wanted to be a Viking last year and will also be a free agent, and the Vikings kept tabs on Joe Flacco’s free agency last spring, and he has been effective for multiple teams in recent years. He could be a sensible fallback plan. Arizona’s Kyler Murray could become available should the Cardinals decide to start fresh at the position, too. His chances to play again this season are seemingly becoming slimmer by the week.

Jeremy Fowler – ESPN

It’d be disappointing to see the answer be Joe Flacco, even though he’s currently unquestionably better than McCarthy despite battling Father Time. Aaron Rodgers tried to will his way into purple, and that could be a reality next year again. Kyler Murray would be among the most expensive options, but he too is a step up.

Regardless, Kevin O’Connell took a hit to his reputation this season by tying his wagon to a quarterback he couldn’t elevate. There won’t be much of an appetite to miss again.

On Tuesday, former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum (ESPN) released his mock draft, where in it he has the Vikings missing out on their QB of the future, after Williams, Daniels, Maye and McCarthy go in order picks one through four, leaving the Vikings twiddling their thumbs at No. 11.

Minnesota Vikings trade for Kyler Murray on draft night…?

So, what’s the move, in this doomsday scenario? Mike T. says a Vikings trade with the Arizona Cardinals that lands 2019 No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray at TCO Performance Center in Eagan when training camp opens this summer could be on the table.

In Tannenbaum’s mock, the Cardinals essentially steal McCarthy from the Vikings at No. 4 overall, instead of dealing them the pick or, like many assume they will do, drafting Marvin Harrison Jr. Then, they turn to the Vikings and deal them Murray, along with a 3rd round pick, for Minnesota’s No. 11 overall.

I drafted J.J. McCarthy at No. 4 to take over under center for Arizona, so Murray becomes a trade candidate and Minnesota is still searching for QB answers after missing out on the top four passers in the class. I don’t love the scheme fit for Oregon’s Bo Nix in Minnesota, and it’s too early for Washington’s Michael Penix Jr.

So here’s my proposition to clear some cap space for the Cards, officially start the McCarthy era in Arizona and fix the Vikings’ QB issue. In my mind, the No. 11 pick for Murray straight up is too rich, and No. 23 — Minnesota’s other first-rounder — on its own is not enough. So I’m attaching that third-rounder to the No. 11 pick to level this out.

Mike Tannenbaum – ESPN

Now, it’s difficult to wrap your brain around this happening, and that’s because it is extremely unlikely. Tannenbaum may not realize this yet, but I cannot foresee a scenario on April 25 where Kwesi Adofo-Mensah allows this to happen.

Related: Wilfs Appear Confident, Borderline Giddy Over Vikings’ Draft Plans at QB

Once the Vikings have decided where they need to jump to, in order for KOC to get his guy, it’s been made very apparent that the Vikings GM will do whatever it takes to get to that spot, even if it means selling the entire TCO farm back in Eagan, practice stadium and all.

But Mike Tannenbaum may not be that crazy…

But… if we let our minds go beyond realistic outcomes, and we accept this hypothetical scenario, where all four top quarterbacks are indeed gone before the Vikings can snag one, AND the Arizona Cardinals end up being the team that takes McCarthy (or Maye or Daniels — whichever of the three falls to No. 4)… then this scenario would does make a lot of sense.

So much sense that it might be something the Vikings have discussed in-house…? Immediately when I saw Tannebaum’s mock draft Tuesday morning, my mind went to something longtime Pioneer Press’ columnist and insider Charley Walters kicked off the “Don’t Print That…” scoops section of his semi-weekly Sunday column with a couple days ago.

At the time, I passed on aggregating this because it felt so out of left field that I wasn’t sure anyone would take it seriously. But not today… because not only did Walters float the idea of Kyler Murray landing in Minnesota over the weekend, like Tannebaum did Tuesday, he reported it as something he’s hearing could be an actual emergency fallback option for the Vikings, should a doomsday scenario unfold, like the one ESPN laid out above.

Potential wild card fallback move for the Vikings in next month’s NFL draft: Arizona picks a QB the Vikings wanted at No. 4 and the Vikings subsequently trade their No. 23 pick to the Cardinals for QB Kyler Murray, 26.

Charley Walters – Pioneer Press

So once again… I see an almost impossible likelihood that the final outcome next month is a Vikings draft night trade that lands them Kyler Murray… but Mike Tannenbaum may not be as far off the beaten path as some may believe when they first read his mock draft on Tuesday morning.

Related: Vikings Legend Harrison Smith Weighs in on NFL Banning Hip Drop Tackles

Many wills cream about money, and paying Murray and Cousins’ dead cap hit in 2024 could present some problems in the immediate future. Still… it’s worth noting that most of the guaranteed money in Kyler’s deal will be already paid out after this season.

That means, if Murray weren’t to reach his No. 1 overall pick potential or be trending that way, after one season under Kevin O’Connell’s tutelage, the Vikings could cut bait on the cheap, and dive back into whatever quarterback options present themselves a year or two from now.

"Kyler Murray don't care about nobody but Kyler Murray"

Patrick Peterson comments on what's going on with his former team the Cardinals, since they are always in the news.

Full discussion ????https://t.co/imFgoT1fgs pic.twitter.com/1XYkBTJKzT

— All Things Covered (@ATCoveredPod) November 30, 2022

This isn’t true…you on some weird shit @p2 you got my number, if you really felt like this as a “big bro” or “mentor” you supposed to call me and tell me, not drag me so your podcast can grow… https://t.co/MFqbMKh3la

— Kyler Murray (@K1) December 1, 2022

Peterson fires back

As could’ve been expected, Patrick Peterson fired back at Kyler Murray on Thursday during the Vikings scheduled media session. During the interview, P2 somewhat doubled down on his original comments, though he dawdled through it quite a bit, adding at the end that he did not have Kyler Murray’s number, like the Cardinals’ QB had assumed

After finding it through a third party, Peterson texted Kyler. He’s yet to get a response. Stay tuned…

Murray tweeted last night that Peterson has his number and should reach out. Peterson in fact did not have his number but got one from an ex-teammate. Texted. No reply yet but looks forward to talking. Full quotes in a bit.

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) December 1, 2022

Patrick Peterson explained the comment he made about Kyler Murray. He also said today he asked a former teammate for Murray's number and sent the number a text but hadn't spoken yet with Murray directly. pic.twitter.com/feb6HHe4ua

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) December 1, 2022

Peterson’s comments on Kyler Murray were savage in nature but that’s, in part, why the All Things Covered podcast is successful. When the clip above begins, for example, P2 is running down his former (Murray’s current) coach, Kliff Kingsbury. Nobody is safe.

What Murray should be more concerned about is why so many around the league seem to look down on him as a below average teammate. Because where there is smoke, there is usually fire. If Kyler doesn’t want his bad teammate reputation to stick forever, it might be time for some soul searching.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan