The Minnesota Vikings decided to bring Kyler Murray to compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting QB job. Moreover, the Vikings did their homework on Murray before deciding he would be their pick to sign and give McCarthy a challenger for the starting job.
In the offseason, the Arizona Cardinals decided to cut ties with the former No. 1 pick. As a result, Murray received a reality check, and after being the guy in Arizona, he now has to fight to be a starter in the NFL.
During an Aug. 3 appearance on KFAN, O’Connell spoke about the decision to sign Murray and not having concerns despite the Cardinals giving up on the player.
“It’s got to be about the evaluation of what you see on the tape,” O’Connell said. “I’ve known Kyler; that’s the benefit of me. When I got done playing, I got a chance to be around kind of the quarterback space in a few months before I took my first job. And I got a chance to meet Sam Darnold and Kyler Murray actually at the same time in Oregon at the opening that Nike used to put on…
“You’re around them. You’re building relationships. I learned he was competitive just like I learned Sam was competitive. I learned he was naturally talented just like I learned about Sam in those moments. And not to compare the two because I think that’s an easy kind of route to take. But I think what you do is you got to look at the tape and then you got to think about the world you’re going to be bringing him into.”
Kevin O’Connell Focuses on Players’ Future, Not Their Past
Moreover, O’Connell notes that another reason he doesn’t pay attention to why a team is giving up on a player is that the Vikings head coach leaves the past in the past once a player signs with Minnesota.
“In many cases, I never ever want to, you know, spend time talking to a player we bring in about the past, this is why some of these things happened,” O’Connell added. “That’s not for me to figure out. It is for me to figure out how best to put them in a world where they walk in here every day and they see at the end of the tunnel the best version of themselves, hopefully, and it can look a lot of different ways.
“Talent is a big part of it, though, in the evaluation. Can you, when in doubt, point A to point B and throw the football accurately? And I think all the guys that kind of fall into that space, they’ve got some experience that you can really tap into.”
Vikings’ Aaron Jones Sr. on J.J. McCarthy, Kyler Murray
Amid Murray’s battle with McCarthy for the Vikings’ starting QB job, running back Aaron Jones Sr. spoke about the differences he noticed between the two signal-callers when the veteran appeared on the July 31 edition of “Good Morning Football.”
“Kyler has experience when it comes to how long he’s played in the league, and J.J. is just kind of getting that experience,“ Jones said. “But that experience was big for him last year, and you can tell it has helped J.J.
“He came back this year with a deeper understanding of the playbook. He can get guys lined up and handle those different things. I would say that was the biggest difference. Those reps have really helped J.J. during OTAs, and you can tell he’s taken a step.”
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