The Minnesota Vikings‘ QB battle is the one many in the national football media have their eyes on to see who comes out the winner between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy. It’s only a couple of days of training camp, but each day the performances of the two players go under the microscope.
During a July 30 appearance on SportsCenter, ESPN’s Benjamin Solak shared his observations from attending Vikings practice as the QB battle between McCarthy and Murray intensifies.
“Looks like the second day of training camp there,” Solak said. “It’s not perfect. We’re ironing out a lot of wrinkles, especially for Kyler Murray, who’s learning a new offense. He’s never really played in the Sean McVay or Kevin O’Connell system before. So there were some misses, the kind of misses that happen because he’s still learning the offense.
“He and Jordan Addison disagreed about whether a route should break or continue vertically, making it look like a throwaway. On another play, Justin Jefferson broke over the middle of the field, and Murray led him too far downfield. This is exactly the kind of thing training camp is for, figuring these details out.”
During his time with the Arizona Cardinals, Murray recorded a passer rating of 92.2 with 20,460 yards, 121 touchdowns and 60 interceptions in 87 games, per StatMuse. As a result, if the former No. 1 pick does win the job, it will be up to head coach Kevin O’Connell to get the best out of him.
Kyler Murray Has Some Catching Up to Do
Furthermore, Solak noted that if Murray wants to win this QB competition, the former Cardinals star needs to catch up on learning the offense, given that McCarthy has a major advantage, as he’s been in this system for three years.
“Unlike a quarterback who just changed jobs, Kyler only gets 50 percent of the first-team reps because J.J. McCarthy is out there,” Solak added. “McCarthy looks better, frankly, because he’s been in this offense before. He’s thrown to these receivers before. He has a better understanding of the system and a better handle on it.
“That’s why this is a legitimate quarterback competition, because Kyler needs to get up to speed. That is a process that will take a couple of weeks, and then we’ll see if and when the Vikings are ready to name a starting quarterback for Week 1.”
Kyler Drops Update on Learning Vikings’ Offense
Still, Murray won’t let this be McCarthy’s advantage in the battle. While speaking to the media on July 29, the Vikings signal-caller shared an update on where he’s at learning O’Connell’s offense.
“Any chance I could get to going over scripts, going over the playbook every day for the last six weeks and then obviously, workouts and stuff, going out there and implementing what we’ve done and just trying to familiarize, get more familiar with the verbiage and the footwork and all that stuff,” Murray told reporters.
“… I feel great. Really helped me going through OTAs for sure. You know, having done it once now, obviously this time it’s about to be real. But I truly believe that going through OTAs has prepared me for what’s to come.”
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