Kyler Murray’s future with the Minnesota Vikings remains uncertain. His long-term outlook in the NFL, particularly as a starting quarterback, is also unclear after an underwhelming stint as the team’s starter.
Murray struggled to find consistency and put the group on an upward trajectory during his time under center. With the quarterback now dealing with a hamstring injury and Carson Wentz coming off a poor performance in Week 9, the Vikings decided to trade for Kirk Cousins.
The Vikings are focused on the present, and Cousins gives the team its best chance to take advantage of having a championship-caliber defense this season. With the 38-year-old now in the building, Murray may have limited opportunities to return to the field as the starter.
As a result, there’s discussion surrounding whether Murray will have to be content with being a backup QB if he wants to continue playing. Nonetheless, The Ringer’s NFL insider Tom Pelissero isn’t going that far with his outlook on Murray’s future in the league.
“If Kyler wants to be in the NFL next season, he can be in the NFL, and he can still be a starting quarterback,” Pelissero said during a Nov. 12 appearance on KFAN. “This was an experiment by Kevin O’Connell.
“He wanted to take a guy who’d never been coached this way, never played in exactly this style of offense, but had a really unique skill set for the position in terms of his mobility and his legs, and see if it worked out. I don’t think it was all bad. I know I get crushed every time I say that, but it was not all bad.”
Vikings Couldn’t Wait Any Longer on Kyler Murray
Moreover, Pelissero noted that the team couldn’t wait any longer for Murray to start picking up the offense and feel more comfortable in it. The Vikings needed to get their offense up to par where they can take advantage of having a championship-caliber defense.
“With Kyler, what did he play, four games healthy and one with a bad hamstring?” Pelissero added. “It’s not a lot of time for a guy who got 50% of the reps all offseason to really fall into these things.
“But what you really came to here was a unique set of circumstances with Kyler’s injury, which changed the dynamic, and then Wentz played that badly. They couldn’t wait. That’s the biggest upshot here: they could not wait.”
Could Kyler Murray Consider Switching to Baseball?
Meanwhile, Dan Patrick recently gave Murray intriguing advice, noting that the QB should consider switching to baseball, as he was a top pick in the MLB Draft in 2018. Pelissero shared whether he believes that’s a serious option for the former No. 1 pick.
“It’s always an option, but that’s a long time away from baseball to go back and play it,” Pelissero said. “The guy was a first-round pick by the A’s. So how realistic is it? I don’t know, but he’s always had that in his back pocket. If things had gone south after his third year in Arizona, which was this huge fight that went public, and his agent issued this blistering statement in February about the Cardinals disrespecting Kyler.
“They ultimately got a deal done, but the fallback was always that he could just go play baseball. He really could leave. He’s made a ton of money. Is it possible? I’d say it’s possible, but there are a lot of different things Kyler would have to decide.”
Insider Gives Clear Outlook on Vikings QB Kyler Murray’s NFL Future