![\"Kyler](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kyler-Murray-e1785795357408.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Kyler Murray looks on track for the starting job.<\/p>\n
The Minnesota Vikings quarterback competition between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy is taking clearer shape<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pro Football Talk\u2019s Mike Florio and co-host and former NFL<\/a>\u00a0 quarterback Chris Simms broke that down on Monday, as Murray is beginning to establish himself at training camp.\u00a0Florio noted that many of the experts in attendance at the Vikings camp \u201cseemed to be unison that Murray had a much better day than McCarthy\u201d on Aug. 1.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not surprised to hear that,\u201d Simms said<\/a>. \u201cWe talked about that a lot. He\u2019s the veteran guy. He knows how to practice better. He\u2019s got all of that. He understands the tricks of practice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd think I would think the pressure of the situation for Kyler Murray is not \u2026 too overbearing,\u201d Simms added. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that\u2019s been around the NFL. He has played in a playoff game.\u201d<\/p>\n Murray, a former No. 1 pick, played for the Arizona Cardinals<\/a> from 2019 to 2025 before he joined the Vikings as a free agent this offseason. McCarthy, a 2024 No. 10 pick, hasn\u2019t planned out thus far, and it\u2019s looking like he could be losing ground at training camp.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not going to bat an eye about this,\u201d Simms said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m sure he\u2019s extremely excited. I mean, it\u2019s the most talented offense he\u2019s ever been around in the NFL.\u201d<\/p>\n Opportunity Ahead For Kyler Murray<\/p>\n Simms played for four NFL teams between 2003 and 2010, and he served as an assistant coach with the New England Patriots<\/a> in 2012.<\/p>\n He\u2019s very clear on the impact coaching has on a quarterback in the league, and he sees Murray\u2019s opportunity with the Vikings as massive. Vikings head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell has enjoyed much success developing quarterbacks, which most recently includes Sam Darnold.<\/p>\n Darnold turned around his career with the Vikings in 2024, and he won a Super Bowl the following year with the Seattle Seahawks<\/a>. Simms sees Murray as eager to follow suit working with O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that on itself, I would expect it to be on [his] best game,\u201d Simms said of Murray.<\/p>\n Murray played for two different head coaches in Arizona with mixed results. His best season came under former Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury in 2021. The Cardinals went 11-6 and lost in the Wild Card round.<\/p>\n Murray completed 69.2% of his passes for 3,787 yards and 24 touchdowns versus 10 interceptions that year. It came on the heels of another strong season in 2020, when he completed 67.2% of his passes for 3,971 yards and 26 touchdowns versus 12 picks.<\/p>\n After Kingsbury, Murray played for former Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon from 2023 to 2025. Murray only eclipsed 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns once in his three seasons under Gannon.<\/p>\n Now, Murray plays for a Vikings team that went 9-8 last season with McCarthy starting most of that season.<\/p>\n What Happens If J.J. McCarthy Still Looks Good<\/p>\n If McCarthy still looks good in camp, too, that plays to the Vikings\u2019 favor.<\/p>\n Florio pointed out that the Vikings could be \u201ctrying to prop him up so they can trade him.\u201d That\u2019s plausible since there\u2019s often a team or more that will need a quarterback later this year because of injuries.<\/p>\n McCarthy had a winning record as a starter last year, so there are positives to work with. The Vikings could be getting calls if he plays well in the preseason.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMatthew Davis<\/a> covers the NFL, WNBA and college sports for Heavy.com. As a contributing writer to the StarTribune, he has also covered Minnesota prep sports since 2016. More about Matthew Davis<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Kyler Murray looks on track for the starting job. The Minnesota Vikings quarterback competition between Kyler Murray…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":963536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,233,259,2529,6,234],"class_list":["post-963535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-vikings","tag-football","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-vikings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117034313577775155","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963535","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=963535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/963536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}