National analyst states the obvious about the Minnesota Vikings quarterback competition with an interesting caveat worth remembering
The quarterback competition isn’t going to be 50/50 for the Minnesota Vikings, and it’s not the only thing to remember.
Two days into training camp have given us some interesting context on what the quarterback competition with J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray will look like. Head coach Kevin O’Connell has said that it likely won’t be 50/50 due in terms of reps, but it will be fair in opportunities.
Even so, O’Connell emphasized that it will be thorough and so far, it has been. Being that we are two practices in, there are still a lot of things to parse through, and it’s something multiple analysts have mentioned.
Ben Solak highlights interesting aspect of the quarterback competition
The second day of practice is in the books and it was Murray that reportedly had more struggles than McCarthy. That shouldn’t be a surprise, as ESPN’s Benjamin Solak highlighted after observing practice on Thursday.
“Looks like the second day of training camp,” said Solak. “It’s not perfect. All right, we’re ironing out a lot of wrinkles out here, especially for Kyler Murray, who’s learning a new offense. Never really played in the Sean McVay, Kevin O’Connell system before, so there were misses, right? And the sort of misses that are because he’s learning the offense. He disagreed with Jordan Addison about whether or not a route should break or keep going vertical. It looks like a throwaway. Justin Jefferson breaking over the middle of the field. He leads him too far down the field. This is the sort of stuff that figuring out training camp is for.”
Murray working mostly against the first team isn’t much of a surprise either, but the struggles make sense with all the factors considred. At the same time, McCarthy looking better also makes sense for the same reason.
“McCarthy looks better, frankly, because he’s been in this offense before. He’s thrown to these receivers before,” Solak continued. “He has a better understanding and a handle on the system, and that’s why this is a legitimate quarterback competition. Because Kyler needs to get up to speed. That is a process that will take a couple of weeks, and then we’ll see if and when the Vikings are ready to name a starting quarterback for Week One.”
We need to keep those aspects in consideration with this competition. It won’t be the case once we are a few more practices in, as the more experienced Murray, who is a seven year veteran, gets more experience in the system. However, if he continues to work mostly against the first team, there will be some more lenience.
Strap in, we are in for a long ride.
