![\"Kyler](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776410909_221_kyler-murray-arizona-cardinals_18060e.jpg\")
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(Photo by Christian Petersen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Minnesota Vikings<\/a> signed QB Kyler Murray<\/a> earlier this off-season to a veteran minimum deal.<\/p>\n The agreement serves as a true insurance policy for Kevin O\u2019Connell and his job security for 2026 and beyond. They knew they couldn\u2019t just give J.J. McCarthy the keys this season after what happened in 2025. It was a year of injuries and incredibly inconsistent play, and Minnesota can\u2019t bank on that to win games now.<\/p>\n Not only does Murray provide insurance, he also arguably provides a much higher upside for a Minnesota offense needing stability.<\/p>\n Recently, a former teammate of Murray opened up regarding his opinions on the situation.<\/p>\n Vikings\u2019 Kyler Murray Gets Honest Words from Former Teammate A.Q. Shipley GettyLOS ANGELES, CA \u2013 DECEMBER 29: Inside linebacker Cory Littleton #58 of the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> recovers a fumlble by quarterback Kyler Murray #1 as he got caught behind center A.Q. Shipley #53 of the Arizona Cardinals in the first half of the game against the Arizona Cardinals at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 29, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Cardinals insider Kyle Odegard<\/a> was kind enough to share some words<\/a> he had with Murray\u2019s former teammate, A.Q. Shipley, with us.<\/p>\n Shipley spoke on playing with Kyler Murray during the QB\u2019s rookie year in Arizona.<\/p>\n \u201cI was with him his first year, and obviously as a rookie it\u2019s tough. We had a veteran O-line group. I just wish he would be a little bit more forthcoming (vocally). I think it would go a long way for everybody. I think that\u2019s part of your job.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a lost art. You\u2019ve got to be able to get in the huddle and look your guys in the eyes when it\u2019s short yardage on third down. I\u2019ve heard from some of the guys that he\u2019s gotten better every year with that, but if you\u2019re going to run a franchise, like, yeah Justin Jefferson is that guy, but he\u2019s still looking to you. <\/p>\n Everybody looks to the quarterback. So I think it would be beneficial for him to do that, and hopefully he does.\u201d<\/p>\n They were quite the honest words from Shipley. For Vikings fans, they seem to be words of concern. Instead of going to bat for a former teammate, Shipley was honest and voiced something that could hold Murray back with the Vikings.<\/p>\n Shipley Has Hope for Kyler Murray\u2019s Pairing with HC Kevin O\u2019Connell<\/p>\n Shipley did however have some hopeful words for Kyler Murray and his pairing with Kevin O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n \u201cKevin O\u2019Connell is the best in the business. He really is. He does such a good job. I think it\u2019s a dream scenario for a quarterback. If he ends up being the guy, which he should be, Kevin is going to be really good for him. <\/p>\n Kevin is big on the knowledge, understanding the whole picture. I\u2019m not sure Kyler was ever fully held accountable to know that world. It started with, \u2018Hey, he\u2019s a great athlete so we\u2019ll do what he does best, but not really teach him the whole gamut.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still a purist. I still love seeing Aaron Rodgers get to the line of scrimmage and dictate the show. I\u2019m not sure Kyler technically can do that right now. So getting with Kevin will be really good.\u201d<\/p>\n While Shipley was still skeptical of Murray to thrive in Minnesota, he did give some hope. Vikings head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell may be able to bring out the best in Murray. O\u2019Connell has been able to do that so far with quarterbacks like Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold.<\/p>\n So, why wouldn\u2019t he be able to do so with Kyler Murray, who arguably has a higher ceiling than either Darnold or Cousins?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tBrevan Bane<\/a> Brevan Bane is a sports scribe covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals. Brevan began his writing career by making a platform on Twitter and leveraging his presence into writing and content creation opportunities for outlets like PurplePTSD, Vikings Territory, The Noise, Hockey Wilderness, and the VikesNow YouTube channel. You can follow him on X @brevmanbane. More about Brevan Bane<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Vikings\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Christian Petersen\/Getty Images) The Minnesota Vikings signed QB Kyler Murray earlier this off-season to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,233,259,2529,6,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-868205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-vikings","11":"tag-minnesotavikings","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116418872161481247","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868205","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=868205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Minnesota](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1190751562.jpg\")
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