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Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell looks on against the Green Bay Packers.
The Minnesota Vikings have four quarterbacks on the roster as training camp approaches in July, but the team will slash that number to three come final cutdown day, if not before, at the end of preseason action in late August.
Judd Zulgad of SKOR North predicted via his Substack on Friday, June 19 that former Minnesota Golden Gophers starter Max Brosmer, an undrafted free agent rookie who joined the Vikings in 2025, will end up the odd man out.
[Kevin] O’Connell said [JJ] McCarthy and [Kyler] Murray will open training camp competing for the starting job. The two quarterbacks split reps evenly during minicamp, but at some point O’Connell is going to have to pick a starter and get him extensive reps with the first-team offense.
Unless the Vikings decide to trade the loser of the competition, this is an easy position to project. [Carson] Wentz, who joined the Vikings near the end of camp last summer, provides a veteran presence and will take over the No. 2 job if McCarthy or Murray is moved. Brosmer was overwhelmed in the playing time he got last season and is likely headed for the practice squad.
Max Brosmer Got Multiple Chances to Prove Himself to Vikings During Rookie Season
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback Max Brosmer.
Brosmer appeared in seven games during his rookie campaign, starting two of them (1-1).
He completed 66.2 percent of his total passes for 328 yards, but threw four interceptions compared to zero touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Wentz started five games (2-3), completing 65.1 percent of his attempts for 1,216 yards, six TDs and five INTs. His season ended due to a shoulder injury that required surgery.
McCarthy battled injury issues again in 2025, playing in just 10 games after missing his entire rookie campaign with a knee issue. He finished the year with a 6-4 record on 57.6 percent passing for 1,632 yards, 11 TDs and 12 INTs.
Murray, a two-time Pro Bowler, also missed considerable action in 2025 due to injury. However, his situation was more of a benching down the stretch of the campaign, as the Arizona Cardinals didn’t have incentive to win and wanted to keep Murray healthy in the hopes of trading him.
That trade didn’t materialize and the Cardinals cut the QB while still owing him north of $36 million for the upcoming year. Minnesota capitalized, inking Murray to a veteran league minimum deal for $1.3 million in 2026.
Murray played five games last season (2-3), completing 68.3 percent of his pass attempts for 962 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions.
Kyler Murray Has Inside Track on QB1 Job, Despite Ongoing Competition in Minnesota
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray.
The prevailing sentiment around the NFL is that Murray will ultimately win the job.
However, reports coming out of Minnesota this summer indicate that McCarthy has improved in meaningful ways that the Vikings mandated heading into 2026.
“The Vikings and head coach Kevin O’Connell are going into this with an open mind. They have tried their best to simulate this 50/50 in the spring,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported Friday. “The way the Vikings see it is, ‘We weren’t in pads, there wasn’t a lot of hitting or contact, let’s get to camp and see how this goes.’ Whether [O’Connell] lets that competition go into preseason games will be based on feel.”
Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group’s family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible