If the Minnesota Vikings are interested in finding someone other than J.J. McCarthy to be their starting quarterback for the 2026 season, current Arizona Cardinals signal-caller Kyler Murray is arguably the best option out of all the veteran quarterbacks who could be available this year.
Some have assumed that a team would need to make a trade with the Cardinals in order to acquire Murray this offseason, but that might not actually be the case.
During an appearance on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" show on Monday, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer shared what he believes Arizona will probably do with Murray this year, and then he even mentioned a certain purple and gold team as a possible landing spot for the current Cardinals passer.
"Kyler's got $36.8 million guaranteed this year, and then another $19.5 million guaranteed next year. So, that complicates trading for him, [and] that complicates cutting him.
So, I think you see the way that that splits up, and I think it probably makes it more likely that Arizona just flat out has to move off of him and cut him and let him go to the market.
I think he will find a place that'll view him as that sort of reclamation project. Maybe it's Minnesota. Maybe it's the Jets. We'll see.
But I think the contract situation makes it a little harder for the Cardinals to hang onto him, and a little harder for the Cardinals to trade him, which makes it more likely that they'll cut him."
Minnesota Vikings adding Kyler Murray in 2026 could be easier than expected
Breer's update certainly makes it a lot more believable that Murray could end up in Minnesota at some point before the start of the 2026 season.
If Arizona is only willing to move on from him via trade, then the Vikings probably wouldn't be somewhere where he could end up, since they're not expected to have a ton of cap space this year, and they wouldn't be able to afford his expensive contract.
But if the Cardinals just cut him, then Minnesota doesn't have to give up any draft picks in a trade, and they can just sign Murray to a brand-new contract, one that would likely be much more affordable than his current deal with Arizona.
Now, if the Vikings added Murray this year, it probably would not be to have him compete with McCarthy for the starting job. There are plenty of teams around the NFL that would make Murray their immediate starting quarterback for the 2026 campaign, so if Minnesota were to bring him in, it would be to be QB1.
Is that a path that the Vikings and head coach Kevin O'Connell want to go down? What would that mean for McCarthy's future in Minnesota? Would th e Vikings want to still keep him around or would they attempt to trade him elsewhere?
These are all things that Minnesota's coaching staff and front office have likely laid out already. Let's just hope that even in an offseason where the Vikings won't have a general manager making the calls, they are still able to make the right decisions for the franchise