{"id":834188,"date":"2026-03-26T03:45:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T03:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/834188\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T03:45:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T03:45:44","slug":"hidden-benefit-of-vikings-kyler-murray-signing-revealed-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/834188\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden benefit of Vikings’ Kyler Murray signing revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hidden benefit of Vikings’ Kyler Murray signing revealed<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Vikings<\/a>‘ signing of Kyler Murray has been headline news for the past week as the franchise looks to go in a different direction at quarterback.<\/p>\n

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With J.J. McCarthy struggling in his first season as a starter, it appears the Vikings want more and quickly. Enter Murray.<\/p>\n

For most, this is a team that is built to win now, and having another so-so season with McCarthy just isn’t viable. So Murray comes in, presumably to be the starter for the 2026 season after likely beating out McCarthy for the role.<\/p>\n

And for Sports Illustrated’s Gilberto Manzano, he’s given Minnesota a B for their free agency work, but has given insight into a hidden benefit of the Murray signing.<\/p>\n

“The Vikings made two good moves at quarterback: convincing Murray to sign with them, and not promising him the starting job,” Manzano writes<\/a>. “If a motivated Murray can decisively beat J.J. McCarthy for the starting job, that could be the start of another productive QB partnership for coach Kevin O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n

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“Murray\u2019s arrival could also keep Justin Jefferson happy after having to deal with McCarthy\u2019s growing pains last season. This buy-low move could pay off in a big way in 2026.”<\/p>\n

More:Analyst destroys Falcons over free agency plan<\/a><\/p>\n

Justin Jefferson big winner of Murray signing<\/p>\n

It was a frustrating 2025 season for Jefferson, despite hauling in 84 catches for 1,048 yards (lowest of career) and two touchdowns (lowest of career).<\/p>\n

Now, with Murray, who you can argue is head and shoulders above McCarthy, at least right now, Jefferson could be set to be a big winner of the deal.<\/p>\n

With Sam Darnold in 2024, Jefferson posted 1,533 yards and 10 TDs from 103 receptions, so he can make it work with a veteran quarterback.<\/p>\n

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And if Murray can get the best out of Jefferson, then it would only solidify the franchise’s thinking when it comes to who is the long-term starter.<\/p>\n

More NFL news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hidden benefit of Vikings’ Kyler Murray signing revealed originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,23388,1519,2780,4827,233,259,2529,6,1878,234],"class_list":["post-834188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-vikings","tag-football","tag-gilberto-manzano","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-justin-jefferson","tag-kyler-murray","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-sam-darnold","tag-vikings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116293424238020978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}