Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

At the beginning of the 2026 NFL league year, the Minnesota Vikings signed former Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray to a one-year deal worth only $1.3 million. Murray will be paid a massive sum from Arizona due to the amount of money that is set to be paid towards him in the 2026 season by the Cardinals front office. Following seven seasons in Arizona filled with injuries and other miniature controversies, Murray will now be the most-recent veteran QB to call Minnesota home.

Following a dismal season statistically by J.J McCarthy, the Vikings front office, currently being led by vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, looked to find a veteran QB on the open market to compete with the 23-year old with an injury history to compete for the starting job. McCarthy won six of the ten games that he started in 2025, but he had turnover issues in throwing interceptions(12 for the season) and having problems with accurately throwing the ball to some of the best receiving targets in the game. With a QBR of 35.6, McCarthy did little to assure the Vikings’ brain trust and fan base that he was a better quarterback than Sam Darnold, who went on to win a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks after leaving Minnesota in free agency last offseason. Injury woes prevented McCarthy from being fully available, as he was out with an ankle sprain for five games, suffered a concussion that had him out for one game and dealt with a sore right throwing hand that was aggravated in Week 16 and caused him to only play for one half the rest of the season.

Murray has injury woes as well as he didn’t play for the rest of last season after suffering a foot sprain in Week 5 for the Cardinals. Murray also suffered a torn ACL in the 2022 season and only led Arizona to one playoff appearance during his tenure. Murray had himself good seasons in his first three years as he surpassed 3,000 yards passing in each of them and did so again in 2024. As a dual-purpose QB, Murray’s scrimmage yard numbers have surpassed 4,000 yards in those same four seasons that he threw for 3,000 yards. Being similar to McCarthy as a former first-round pick(first overall in 2019) and being a little smaller than McCarthy(who is 6 feet, 3 inches), Murray will seek to resurrect his career under the offensive leadership of Kevin O’Connell, who has had success with Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold.

Murray will also seek to have success on a one-year deal with the Vikings, who have had short-term luck with free agent QBs such as Darnold, Case Keenum, Brett Favre, Randall Cunningham, Warren Moon and others throughout their franchise’s history. In spite of their QB inconsistency and drafting McCarthy in 2024 to solve that dilemma, Minnesota is willing to take another cheap gamble with a veteran QB. Murray was not the only choice on the open market for the Vikings to get initially, but once those other options found landing spots it became clear that Murray was going to land in Minnesota. The Vikings will definitely have a QB competition between Murray and McCarthy to determine who will be the starter in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season.

Along with bringing back Eric Wilson and releasing veteran players such as Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, and Ryan Kelly(retired), the Vikings front office has been managing to get the team’s salary under the new cap set by the NFL. Signing Murray to a veteran minimum deal is a convenient move for the cap and he will either be the new starter in Minnesota or a solid backup in looking to rebuild his career. The former number one overall pick will look to prove himself worthy of a second chance as he changes scenery from a lowly Cardinals franchise to a Vikings team looking to return to the playoffs and possibly end a 50-year long Super Bowl appearance drought.