The Minnesota Vikings have given no indication that Kyler Murray is finished as their starting quarterback, but given the circumstances of his exit from the lineup ahead of the team’s “Monday Night Football” game against the Buffalo Bills, there is a real chance he never starts again for the franchise.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell mentioned “hamstring tightness” for Murray following the team’s loss to the Detroit Lions. Ian Rapoport of ESPN reported a couple of days later that while the injury isn’t “really bad,” Murray could miss the upcoming game because he relies on his legs to make plays.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suggested almost immediately that a team benching its starter with a physical ailment so light that the coach doesn’t even refer to it as an injury is hardly common, which could indicate that the Vikings were using the hamstring issue as a “cover” for a “soft benching” of Murray based on his continued struggles to move the football through the air.
Minnesota held JJ McCarthy out six weeks with an ankle sprain last season, during which a multitude of NFL analysts speculated the Vikings chose to do because they actually favored backup QB Carson Wentz.
Now, on Thursday, O’Connell announced that while Murray is not going on IR, his hamstring issue is going to land him on the bench in favor of Wentz. The evidence begins to add up.
Vikings’ Decision to Shelve QB Kyler Murray Could Involve More Than Injury, as Justin Jefferson Clearly Frustrated
There is also the Justin Jefferson factor to consider here.
Jefferson excelled with Wentz last season, or at least much more so than with McCarthy or then undrafted rookie Max Brosmer. The superstar wide receiver also had his best game of the season in Week 1 after Wentz replaced Murray due to a concussion and connected with Jefferson on two touchdown passes.
Jefferson was visibly angry on the sidelines in the fourth quarter of the Vikings’ loss to the Lions at Ford Field. After which, he chose not to speak to media members.
And while Jefferson has been a consummate professional across his tenure in Minnesota, the problems the team has had finding a suitable starting QB for him ever since Kirk Cousins’ exit has been noticeable. It has now been long enough that it is bordering on entirely unacceptable, and rumbles have begun that perhaps Jefferson will push his way out of the organization if its offensive struggles continue and the winning curbs.
Carson Wentz Only Has to Play Competently to Threaten Kyler Murray’s Future With Vikings
Thus, if Wentz plays even moderately well, and if the change of pace improves the Vikings abysmal offense even incrementally, and if Jefferson is even the slightest bit less upset, there is little reason to imagine that Minnesota will rush back to Murray.
Also of note is the fact that Murray is on a one-year, league minimum deal. The Vikings did not trade for him. They did not pay him a single cent more than the NFL requires a team compensate a player with his level of past service. Minnesota owes Murray nothing, literally, which is about what he’s given the franchise to this point.
These circumstances, of course, bring into serious question the team’s decision to bail on McCarthy, a former top-10 pick, early in his third pro season at the age of just 23 after starting him only 10 times total over his first two campaigns. That is especially true because, while it’s still early, he is playing well as the starter for the New York Giants.
But the McCarthy chapter in Minnesota is over, for better or worse, and it appears the Murray chapter could be as well before the organization had a chance to even fully write it.
And if Murray fails here and heads to free agency, while his career won’t be over and he should be able to find a new team, he certainly won’t walk into any new organization as the presumptive starter ever again — particularly given his age, he will play at 30 years old in 2027, and his meaningful history of health problems.
Vikings QB Kyler Murray Gets Bad News on NFL Future