The Minnesota Vikings‘ QB competition between J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray remains ongoing, with the biggest test coming on Aug. 15 in the team’s first preseason game against the New York Giants.
After days of practice amid training camp, McCarthy and Murray will face an opposing defense in live game action. Moreover, it allows either player to take the lead in the battle to win the starting job.
On Aug. 10, Kevin Seifert of ESPN shared the latest on the Vikings’ QB battle ahead of the team’s first preseason game later this week.
“We have a pretty interesting situation going on here in Minnesota,” Seifert said on SportsCenter. “I think everyone understood that Kyler Murray was the favorite for this job, the heavy favorite going into training camp, and he had some really nice practices in the first week or so of camp, showed a lot of command of the offense and decision-making.
“In the past two or three days, he’s run into a little bit of a wall. It helps that, or hurts him, helps the Vikings, that Brian Flores’ defense has done a lot of blitzing against him. He hasn’t had a lot of time to make decisions. But he threw two interceptions [on Aug. 9] in their stadium practice. And just the way he has performed, I think he’s maybe opened the window just a tiny bit for J.J. McCarthy to get in and make this at least interesting.”
Neither QB Is Taking the Lead in QB Competition
Nonetheless, Seifert also noted that McCarthy is also having issues attempting to take advantage of Murray’s struggles at times. So far, it appears neither QB has created enough distance over the other to give themselves a lead in the competition.
“Unfortunately for J.J., he has also struggled with his accuracy,” Seifert added. “[McCarthy] made some nice downfield throws [on Aug. 9] in the stadium practice, but also struggled in the red zone. So really what you have is going into the third week of camp, neither one of these guys has really jumped up and said, this is my job, I’m going to be the starter and so the competition will continue.”
Last season with the Vikings, McCarthy had 310 pass snaps, leading to a 61.8 overall PFF grade. He also threw for 1,632 passing yards and 11 touchdowns against 12 interceptions, while recording 19 big-time throws and 15 turnover-worthy plays.
What J.J. McCarthy Needs to Show the Vikings
Meanwhile, Seifert also noted what Minnesota wants to see from McCarthy as it pertains to what the former first-round pick needs to show to win the starting job over Murray.
“I think they wanted to see a couple of things,” Seifert said. “First, a big leap just overall in his accuracy and his decisiveness. There was a lot of hesitation and frenetic nature in the pocket last year, and he also sailed a lot of passes. He has made incremental progress, I think, at that.
“But he had a long way to go and a big gap to make up in order to really truly challenge Kyler Murray. Kyler hasn’t necessarily done his share yet, but I don’t know that J.J. McCarthy has either. So, incremental progress for J.J. McCarthy, but not enough to say that he is imminently going to win this competition.”
Vikings Insider Reveals Latest Development in QB Battle