At Minnesota’s training camp in Eagan, Minn., the Vikings have split snaps between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy through the first seven practices as part of a declared competition, but daily observers say Murray has emerged as the heavy favorite. Over the week, the team gave Murray roughly two-thirds of the first-team snaps in 11-on-11 drills, a pattern that has been notable even if a single practice would not carry much meaning.
Both quarterbacks have produced strong and weak moments across roughly 300 snaps in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 work, and each has taken reps with the first and second teams. There have been only two padded practices so far, and the Vikings have six more days of on-field work before their first preseason game, leaving time for the competition to change.
McCarthy has spent a significant portion of the summer with the No. 2 offense, often working against the club’s first-team defense. His throws have tended to skew toward short- and midrange attempts, with fewer deep shots than Murray. The Vikings have also experimented more with shotgun and pistol handoffs than in recent seasons; under coach Kevin O’Connell the team has been under center on 47 percent of plays, while Murray’s Arizona Cardinals used under-center formations at an 18.3 percent rate over his previous seven seasons.
O’Connell praised both quarterbacks during a recent visit with reporters and cautioned against reading too much into deployment patterns. He said Murray has “shown improvement every single day” and noted that Murray worked hard to study the offense during his summer break. O’Connell added he was encouraged that Murray had hit some downfield throws and emphasized that the staff is trying to implement foundational elements of the offense, calling it an “all-11 thing” regardless of personnel groupings.
Two factors helped shape the early assessment that Murray would be the favorite. Murray ranked among the top 15 quarterbacks in the NFL by combined QBR during his time with the Cardinals among players with enough action plays to qualify, giving him an established baseline. The Vikings also fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who selected McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in 2024, removing any organizational inertia that might have favored McCarthy. Murray has had some miscommunications in the new system, including several throws that did not match receivers’ routes and one sequence that led O’Connell to end a practice early, but the team highlighted ongoing progress from both players.
