A year ago or so, it was easy to wonder how J.J. McCarthy would do as the Minnesota Vikings' starting quarterback. Within that wonder, it was also fair to be optimistic or pessimistic, but Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd went to great lengths to dismiss McCarthy's potential.
After how last season went, however tough it is to admit, Cowherd now looks clairvoyant. The Vikings have essentially replaced McCarthy with Kyler Murray, while maintaining the idea of an open competition to start training camp.
On Friday's edition of "The Herd", Cowherd gave his take on Vikings' head coach Kevin O'Connell's comments about the quarterback competition on the previous day's edition of "The Dan Patrick Show."
Cowherd's thoughts about there almost having to be a facade of a genuine camp competition between Murray and McCarthy align with the prevailing sentiment that Murray is going to win the job. But, as he moved to praising the Vikings as a well-run organization that usually gets the best out of players, he apparently couldn't resist offering a new profession of his love for a former Vikings' quarterback.
Colin Cowherd still cannot hide his affection for former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold
"Kyler Murray's gonna work here (with the Vikings)", Cowherd said. "He's not gonna work as much as Sam Darnold, because he's not as good as Sam Darnold."
Cowherd has been Darnold's No. 1 fan for a long time. Given the situation, with Darnold allowed to leave in free agency and McCarthy anointed as the Vikings' starting quarterback, it was no surprise that Darnold's name was used as reinforcement for the aforementioned McCarthy criticism a year ago.
Now, Murray has caught a Darnold-driven stray out of nowhere.
Regarding who's better between Murray and Darnold, you can find whatever's necessary to support your case on both sides. If prompted, we know what Cowherd would do in that side-by-side argument to support Darnold and show why Murray isn't as good. Full context need not, necessarily, apply.
Murray is absolutely hoping to revive his career in Minnesota the same way Darnold did in 2024. A nice contract from the Seattle Seahawks and a Super Bowl ring later, Darnold is doing quite well. That's where the comparison or parallels between the two should end, for now.
Maybe Cowherd will end up being right, again, when it comes to Darnold in comparison to the Vikings' starting quarterback. But, before Murray has taken a meaningful snap in Purple, we aren't there yet.
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