While it's easy to see a clear-cut favorite, the Minnesota Vikings will stage a quarterback competition between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy until they can no longer keep up the facade.
If they hoped to light a fire under McCarthy by adding Murray, the young quarterback's comments at OTAs say mission accomplished, even if they didn't sit well with a lot of people.
There are a few directions things can go moving forward, but Murray's recent injury history keeps the door open for McCarthy to play meaningful snaps this season.
As new general manager Nolan Teasley takes a lead role in figuring out the future plan at the most important position on the field, McCarthy may have (and is probably hoping to have) a say in how that shakes out. Making the most of an opportunity to play, if it comes, would be the best way for him to do that.
Bold prediction for Minnesota Vikings removes any doubt about J.J. McCarthy's future
To commemorate being just less than 100 days from the season opener, SI's Connor Orr offered 100 bold predictions for the 2026 NFL season. No. 18 on the list had to do with the Vikings' quarterback situation.
"J.J. McCarthy will start fewer games than Carson Wentz
All three Vikings quarterbacks—Wentz, McCarthy and Kyler Murray—will play at some point this season. Murray will get the lion’s share of snaps while Wentz steps in during a critical two-game late-season stretch to keep Minnesota’s playoff hopes alive."Â
After how things went last season, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell definitely wanted to make sure he had as many capable quarterbacks in the fold as possible this year. So Wentz was brought back to be the No. 3 quarterback.
When accounting for McCarthy taking advantage of some soft defenses late in the season, Wentz was arguably the team's most functional quarterback last year.
He also did a portion of that with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that became indescribably bad, as he became the piñata to prevent McCarthy from being put back on the field before he was absolutely ready.
Orr's prediction that McCarthy will see some action this season isn't an aggressive take. The prediction he'll start fewer than the two hypothetical late-season games Wentz does is the punch line here.
If that happens, whatever the circumstance is to drive it, any doubt about McCarthy's future in Minnesota will be completely removed.
Add us as a preferred source on Google