The Minnesota Vikings will have a new QB1 this season as they open the 2026 NFL season against the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 13. Kyler Murray won the QB battle in OTAs and the early part of training camp over J.J. McCarthy.
Murray will bring mobility to the Vikings’ offense, which looks to hit the ground running against the Packers. Nonetheless, despite the former Arizona Cardinals star bringing a dual threat to Minnesota, head coach Kevin O’Connell is being urged to use it conservatively.
Phil Mackey of “Purple Daily” shared the number of times O’Connell should want Murray running in a game.
“Kyler, in his second year in the NFL, ran eight to nine times per game,” Mackey said in a Sept. 4 video from SKOR North. “That number is down to four to five times per game post-knee injury. That feels like a fair number to me; if it’s 10 times a game, way too much risk.
“If it’s four to five times a game and three of those are on a third down, and you’re converting. But to me, the mobility is best used off play-action bootlegs, staying behind the line of scrimmage, and sandlot football if you need to get down the field.”
Vikings Likely Won’t Put Kyler Murray in Harms Way
Meanwhile, Mackey’s co-host on “Purple Daily,” Judd Zulgad, doesn’t see O’Connell overusing Murray’s legs to scramble around to create a play. Zulgad expects the number of runs to be dialed back compared to how often the Cardinals had Murray run per game, to reduce his risk of getting hurt.
“Do I think they’re gonna have him run as much as the Cardinals did at times? Absolutely not,“ Zulgad added. “Quite frankly, this is where I’m curious to see how it plays out, because the reality is this: If you have him run like he did against the Cardinals, you’re gonna get him hurt.
“Kyler is a No. 1 overall pick, but if you’re looking for the guy that you saw against the Cardinals, I would say no. If you’re looking for the Vikings to have a different look offensively, I would say yes.”
Kevin O’Connell on Having Kyler Murray as Starting QB
During the Vikings’ final preseason game against the Broncos, O’Connell didn’t hold back his thoughts on what Murray brings to their offense. Moreover, the Vikings head coach appears really excited to have the former No. 1 pick under center.
“When you really study him and watch him over the years in Arizona, there was just a lot of times where he was asked to do a lot to move the football, whether it was plays off schedule, extending plays, we really have talked a lot about just the simplicity of throwing completions because he’s really accurate and he should be,” O’Connell mic’d up during the third quarter of the Broncos-Vikings game.
“He’s career-wise a very high-completion type of thrower. We just feel really good about him peppering completions, putting the ball in play, and then allowing the game to come to him a little bit. Pairing that with the way we hope to run the football when we get our ones out there.”
Vikings Given Clear Kyler Murray Advice Before Packers Game