The Minnesota Vikings will enter training camp with a quarterback competition between J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray as they determine who will become the team’s starter.
After inconsistent quarterback play contributed to a disappointing 2025 season, Minnesota hopes to find stability at the position and ensure it doesn’t hold the team back from returning to the playoffs.
Both quarterbacks have plenty to prove. McCarthy wants to show he is the Vikings’ franchise signal-caller, while Murray is looking to prove he can still be a starting-caliber quarterback after the Arizona Cardinals moved on from him this offseason.
Nonetheless, if Murray wins the job, as many expect, the question then becomes: Is McCarthy QB2? SKOR North’s Phil Mackey still believes that there’s a possibility that the Vikings’ former first-round pick gets traded before Week 1.
“Maybe 90 percent was a little bit over the top, but do I think there’s a pretty good chance that J.J. McCarthy gets traded before Week 1 still? Yes, I do,” Mackey said in a July 10 video from SKOR North. “Of course, there is. I still feel like if you go back, we’ve kind of lost track of the plot from a few months ago.”
Last season with the Vikings, McCarthy had 310 pass snaps, leading to a 61.8 overall PFF grade. Moreover, he threw for 1,632 passing yards and 11 touchdowns against 12 interceptions while also recording 19 big-time throws and 15 turnover-worthy plays.
Will Carson Wentz Actually Be Minnesota’s QB3?
Moreover, Mackey finds it hard to believe that Carson Wentz would re-sign with the Vikings to be QB3, rather than look at other options as a QB2 or a stopgap starter. As a result, it leads him to consider that McCarthy could be available if Murray emerges victorious in this QB competition.
“Does Carson Wentz, after a pattern of waiting out for QB2 or QB1 jobs, immediately sign as a QB3? It doesn’t make sense,” Mackey added. “It felt all along like Carson Wentz was told, ‘You’re going to be QB2, and we’ll sort this thing out. We’ll find a QB1. We’re going to go through our process, but you are likely to be QB2 at the end of this thing.’
“And we are still about two months away from being at the end of this thing. So I don’t know if it’s 90 percent. I would probably back off the 90% number, but it’s definitely, to me, well above 0% that J.J. McCarthy gets traded in the next two months.”
Colin Cowherd Isn’t Buying Vikings Having a QB Competition
Even though this storyline will dominate Vikings training camp, FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd doesn’t believe it’s an actual QB competition.
“They don’t want J.J. McCarthy to be a bust, but he’s a miss,” Cowherd said during the July 10 edition of “The Herd.” “That doesn’t mean he can’t go somewhere else and succeed. Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold went elsewhere and found success, but the difference is the Vikings are a well-run organization with a great coach and a great defensive coordinator, and it’s not working…
“Kyler Murray is going to work here. He’s not going to work as well as Sam Darnold because he’s not as good as Sam Darnold, but Kyler Murray is going to win the job because he’s going to own the locker room. The players think he’s more talented.”
J.J. McCarthy Gets Blunt Message on Vikings Future Amid QB Battle