All Things 2026 Minnesota Vikings Off-Season Thread

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scools12 said:
Nah, he’s making 39 million whether he starts or not. No need to make that promise.
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Your take is opposite what every local and national NFL talking head/podcaster is saying about the situation.
 


upnorthkid said:
They’ll “compete” in camp and Murray will start if healthy
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scools12 said:
Nah, he’s making 39 million whether he starts or not. No need to make that promise.
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They would have never promised the starting gig to Murray, or anyone else. It will be a competition. Sure, Murray will be the heavy favorite, but he wasn't guaranteed anything. Zero chance.
 



Ogie Ogilthorpe said:
They would have never promised the starting gig to Murray, or anyone else. It will be a competition. Sure, Murray will be the heavy favorite, but he wasn't guaranteed anything. Zero chance.
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Agree. Just don’t think the competition will be close. The only catch is going to be the offensive plan as Murray is not a middle depth middle of the field passer with his height. Great go route thrower and off script guy though so you’re going yo see some monster plays from JJ and Addison this year
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Another poverty move by a poverty franchise
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I'm actually pretty excited about signing Murray, GWG. I'm not expecting greatness, but to me, he's always been the best-case scenario for the Vikings this offseason outside of an unlikely trade for Burrow.
 

Thought this was a fun stat from ESPN.

Only 5 NFL QBs have thrown for 20K, while rushing for 3K in their first seven seasons in the league.

Allen
Jackson
Wilson
Newton
Murray

Should be lots of fun
 
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Every media fanboy got caught sucking up to the vikes in 2025. Should be interesting this year…Zulgad is relentless lately calling the Vikings FO frauds.
 





Spaulding!No! said:
Every media fanboy got caught sucking up to the vikes in 2025. Should be interesting this year…Zulgad is relentless lately calling the Vikings FO frauds.
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Simple bet you CheeseLover for the 2026 Regular Season games - no playoffs.

If my team/your team sweeps the two games- the loser (you🥸) takes a month off; if they split, then the most total points scored in the two games determines the winner (me 🤠).
 




Ogie Ogilthorpe said:
Perhaps, but they won the division last year and are obviously one of the obstacles in the path of the Vikings to any level of success in 2026.

Vegas certainly isn't buying the Bears in 2026, according to the betting lines right now. Odds to win the NFC North (according to BetMGM anyway):

Detroit +165
Packers +185
Bears +333
Vikings +725
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Maybe it's still early, or it just doesn't move the needle for some folks, but as of right now, the Vikings number for winning the NFC North has only moved a little bit (I hit it again at +600)

Before K1; +725
Post K1; +600

Their O/U for season win totals didn't move off of 8.5; But the odds moved slightly from +100 to (-120).
 

RememberMurray said:
Regarding the bolded, I don't think that's true at all.

Murray is an attractive option because Arizona is on the hook for the bulk of his salary for 2026 only. Any team that signs him would give him a one year deal at the league minimum, with AZ paying him the rest of his guaranteed money.

After 2026, Murray will be a free agent.

There's no long term commitment for a team that takes a flyer on him.
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Your statements here are true, and at the same time do not counter what I said.

Only three things can happen:

1) Murray plays great, 2024 Darnold like season and/or a playoff win. The Vikings are guaranteed to offer him a big contract to continue being the starter. And I see no reason why he wouldn't accept it.

You're not a real person if you think the Vikings will go to JJ (the real one, Justin Jefferson) and say "yeah, we gave you a great QB in 2024, then let him walk and gave you crap in 2025, then we brought in a new guy who was great for you in 2026, and now we're going let that guy walk too and go back to the same crappy guy from 2025 for 2027. Sound good?"

That's not real.

2) Murray plays OK, but not great. Then you release him. You might be declaring victory here ... but that isn't the point. The point was if the Vikings thing McCarthy is salvageable right now (they don't).

In this case, either McCarthy doesn't get a chance to come off the bench and do better than Murray, or he does and flops, or he does and proves that he actually is the guy for 2027. NONE of those disprove my point ... that the Vikings think he is not salvageable right now (otherwise they wouldn't have needed to bring in Murray in the first place).


3) Murray implodes and McCarthy implodes. The 2026 season is worse than the 2025 season.

In this case, I vote for KOC to be fired and Flores to be promoted to head coach. Release both QB's. Start over on offense.

This scenario still doesn't disprove the point I was making.
 

Ogie Ogilthorpe said:
They would have never promised the starting gig to Murray, or anyone else. It will be a competition. Sure, Murray will be the heavy favorite, but he wasn't guaranteed anything. Zero chance.
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This is sheer nonsense.

Murray is the starter, right now.

I'll go with Seifert, Lewis, et al. who are saying the same thing.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
The good thing about signing Murray is that KOC will be fired after the season.
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If this deal does not pan out, I vote for KOC to be fired. True.


That said ..... you'll still have to live with the fact that JJ McCarthy is a bust.

Largely due to injuries that are his own damn fault.

That and having zero touch on his passes.
 

Slim Tubby said:
I'm actually pretty excited about signing Murray, GWG. I'm not expecting greatness, but to me, he's always been the best-case scenario for the Vikings this offseason outside of an unlikely trade for Burrow.
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I get the Kyler move from a talent perspective, but he doesn't fit KOC's system. He also doesn't move the way he used to, which limits how effective he can be.

KOC already proved he won't adjust his play calling which is what got Darnold and JJ murdered in the pocket the last two years. Kyler Murray is an even worse fit for that.

I saw the quote yesterday that organizations fail young QBs before young QBs fail organizations, and it's true. The Vikings needed to bring in a better veteran QB who could start in case JJ couldn't stay healthy. But at least bring in a veteran QB that's similar to the young QB that you spent a top 10 pick on and you're supposed to be developing and fits your system. Murray is the opposite of that.

Whenever coaches go outside of their system just to try and save their job, it doesn't work. That's all this is. KOC is not the 'QB whisperer' that people want to make him out to be. He hasn't developed a young QB or won anything.

If the Vikings are ever going to win anything, they need to develop a young QB. Instead we get the same sign a retread QB and hope they can win over and over again. It doesn't work.
 

Best possible move of the limited choices we had.

His career stats:

67.1% completion pct.
92.2 passer rating
2:1 TD/Int ratio
37 yds rushing per game

If we had that last year we would've won 13 games, and we're paying the veterans minimum.

He's never had the weapons he'll have next year. KOC has won games with "Nine", a one shouldered Wentz, Dobbs Brosmer, Mullens, and completely turned around the career of Darnold.
 

balds said:
Best possible move of the limited choices we had.

His career stats:

67.1% completion pct.
92.2 passer rating
2:1 TD/Int ratio
37 yds rushing per game

If we had that last year we would've won 13 games, and we're paying the veterans minimum.

He's never had the weapons he'll have next year. KOC has won games with "Nine", a one shouldered Wentz, Dobbs Brosmer, Mullens, and completely turned around the career of Darnold.
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This 'he's never had the weapons he'll have here' narrative is nonsesne. Yeah JJ is better than any of their WR's but they still had talent.

Trey McBride is the best TE in the league.
James Connor is better than any RB on the Vikings
Michael Wilson had over 1000 yards receiving last year.
Marvin Harrsion JR was the #4 pick and has struggled to stay healthy but numbers wise he's pretty comparable to Jordan Addison.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I get the Kyler move from a talent perspective, but he doesn't fit KOC's system. He also doesn't move the way he used to, which limits how effective he can be.

KOC already proved he won't adjust his play calling which is what got Darnold and JJ murdered in the pocket the last two years. Kyler Murray is an even worse fit for that.

I saw the quote yesterday that organizations fail young QBs before young QBs fail organizations, and it's true. The Vikings needed to bring in a better veteran QB who could start in case JJ couldn't stay healthy. But at least bring in a veteran QB that's similar to the young QB that you spent a top 10 pick on and you're supposed to be developing and fits your system. Murray is the opposite of that.

Whenever coaches go outside of their system just to try and save their job, it doesn't work. That's all this is. KOC is not the 'QB whisperer' that people want to make him out to be. He hasn't developed a young QB or won anything.

If the Vikings are ever going to win anything, they need to develop a young QB. Instead we get the same sign a retread QB and hope they can win over and over again. It doesn't work.
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Yeah Sam Darnold was a prototype for this system. Same as Cousins. Tall QB with a big arm who can drill the middle of the field (similar to what McVay runs with Staff with lots of crossers).

Was a huge part of the problem for JJ who has basically always been a PA and shotgun passer making plays off schedule. Kyler was really good with Kingsbury (for the most part) who played a shotgun system. Gannon came in and Kyler was fine, but you lost some of that dynamism. Will be interesting to see if Kyler can fit with what KOC does. I don't love it fit wise, but at the salary I see why they did it. Agree with you this does mean you are again losing a year of developing McCarthy which effectively means he's no longer going to be rostered here and is not going to worth anything on the market.
 

balds said:
Best possible move of the limited choices we had.

His career stats:

67.1% completion pct.
92.2 passer rating
2:1 TD/Int ratio
37 yds rushing per game

If we had that last year we would've won 13 games, and we're paying the veterans minimum.

He's never had the weapons he'll have next year. KOC has won games with "Nine", a one shouldered Wentz, Dobbs Brosmer, Mullens, and completely turned around the career of Darnold.
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On Wentz, he got the shoulder injury while playing against an ass Browns team. He lost both his starts after that. Mullens only game he won was a 3-0 offensive banger. Dobbs had 1 good comeback and then completely imploded throwing 4 picks against the Bears and getting benched. Brosmer's win against the Lions involved 3 net passing yards which is the fewest to win a game since 1974.

Darnold I think is what to me says he can work with a QB, but Darnold fit this system really well. The rest, I don't think he really made a better QB.

We all like to think KOC is the guy who's going to get the most out of his QB and maybe he will out of Murray, but there are just as many discards who haven't worked out that fit that system and our drafted QB doesn't look a single lick better than the day he got here. Maybe it works out, but I think KOC should be heavily on the hot seat right now too. He hasn't won a playoff game still, has had an extremely good defense every year with Flores (by EPA and SRS), and had 3/4 years with a veteran QB of some sort with his best year being one we went 9-1 in 1 score games and the other being one we went 11-1 (the one loss being the playoff game)

To me its a make or break kind of year for him, which I think is why they are willing to discard McCarthy as he is likely feeling he may not have a job if it doesn't work out this year
 

GopherGrit said:
Wonder if this is the reason why?

@Ope3 here proves the point I was making a bit ago, that you could not find the stats for, correct

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I have no idea what you referencing.

I have not made a single comment on Kyler Murray's prospects on joining the Vikings, good, bad or indifferent. Nor I have I cared or referenced any of his stats to the best of my knowledge.

You must be confusing me with someone else.
 

GopherGrit said:
Skor North is like ... the fifth? more important/interesting Vikings commentary in the market.

If Seifert, Alec Lewis, Goessling, aren't reporting it ... then to me it's not really worth reading.
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So I see now per Post # 678 you have come around to Skor North is worth reading...
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I get the Kyler move from a talent perspective, but he doesn't fit KOC's system. He also doesn't move the way he used to, which limits how effective he can be.

KOC already proved he won't adjust his play calling which is what got Darnold and JJ murdered in the pocket the last two years. Kyler Murray is an even worse fit for that.

I saw the quote yesterday that organizations fail young QBs before young QBs fail organizations, and it's true. The Vikings needed to bring in a better veteran QB who could start in case JJ couldn't stay healthy. But at least bring in a veteran QB that's similar to the young QB that you spent a top 10 pick on and you're supposed to be developing and fits your system. Murray is the opposite of that.

Whenever coaches go outside of their system just to try and save their job, it doesn't work. That's all this is. KOC is not the 'QB whisperer' that people want to make him out to be. He hasn't developed a young QB or won anything.
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There's a lot of truth in here. Watching him in AZ since he got drafted, I'm a Murray fan (despite some of his personality and off-field intricacies) but I'm not sure this works out. It's why I thought (don't laugh), for what the Vikings needed THIS season, Flacco or Cousins would have been a better fit as crazy as that sounds.

GopherWeatherGuy said:
If the Vikings are ever going to win anything, they need to develop a young QB. Instead we get the same sign a retread QB and hope they can win over and over again. It doesn't work.
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The ideal scenario for the Vikings and KOC is that JJM starts to click in Year 3 and wins the battle for the starting gig, either for Week 1 or at some point in the season.

This is still a fairly loaded roster, no matter who wins the QB battle, they are going to win games barring the OL injury-fest that happened last year.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I get the Kyler move from a talent perspective, but he doesn't fit KOC's system. He also doesn't move the way he used to, which limits how effective he can be.
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Are you, perhaps, interested in what KOC has to say about HIS system🥸

“If that’s additional concepts, things that players do well, those are things we’re going to do,” O’Connell said. “That’s what building a system … is all about.”

With previous starter Sam Darnold, the Vikings used the spring and summer to get to know his preferences. McCarthy took first-team reps sparingly in the fall of 2024. The same type of vision could be in store here.

GopherWeatherGuy said:
KOC already proved he won't adjust his play calling which is what got Darnold and JJ murdered in the pocket the last two years. Kyler Murray is an even worse fit for that.

I saw the quote yesterday that organizations fail young QBs before young QBs fail organizations, and it's true. The Vikings needed to bring in a better veteran QB who could start in case JJ couldn't stay healthy. But at least bring in a veteran QB that's similar to the young QB that you spent a top 10 pick on and you're supposed to be developing and fits your system. Murray is the opposite of that.

Whenever coaches go outside of their system just to try and save their job, it doesn't work. That's all this is. KOC is not the 'QB whisperer' that people want to make him out to be. He hasn't developed a young QB or won anything.

If the Vikings are ever going to win anything, they need to develop a young QB. Instead we get the same sign a retread QB and hope they can win over and over again. It doesn't work.
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Gopher_In_NYC said:
Are you, perhaps, interested in what KOC has to say about HIS system🥸

“If that’s additional concepts, things that players do well, those are things we’re going to do,” O’Connell said. “That’s what building a system … is all about.”

With previous starter Sam Darnold, the Vikings used the spring and summer to get to know his preferences. McCarthy took first-team reps sparingly in the fall of 2024. The same type of vision could be in store here.
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It's not as if the Vikings have a lot of options. Cousins is 38. JJ hasn't inspired confidence internally or externally. A trade for Burrows wasn't happening. There isn't a great fit and Murray has talent. For a million or so bucks, it is definitely worth a shot.

I can't remember what people were saying about Darnold when he showed up two years ago, but it couldn't have been, "I'll bet we're going 14-3 with this guy!"
 

jamiche said:
It's not as if the Vikings have a lot of options.
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👍
jamiche said:
Cousins is 38. JJ hasn't inspired confidence internally or externally. A trade for Burrows wasn't happening. There isn't a great fit and Murray has talent. For a million or so bucks, it is definitely worth a shot.
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Could be a lottery ticket or a dud, but it will make JJM address his issues, and events which humble us is how we learn.

As Lewis said in his article, Murray’s not coming here to watch, do JJM better prepare if he’s needed to relieve him due to injury or performance issues.

He was least favorite QB in that class, as he hadn’t played a lot in college and his build isn’t optimal - tall and too thin.
jamiche said:
I can't remember what people were saying about Darnold when he showed up two years ago, but it couldn't have been, "I'll bet we're going 14-3 with this guy!"
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Exactly.

I chuckle when people mock KOC prowess’s as QB whisper: two SB winners under his tutelage in Stanford and Darnold (career backup QB at that point until hooking up with KOC) and Daniel Jones went from being cut in midseason to to resurrecting his career, not to mention winning games with assorted flunkies.

JJM is a miss so far, but no one bats 1000%. I wish I was half as good at my job as KOC is with developing QBs.
 

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