The starting quarterback audition that will shape this season for the Minnesota Vikings and perhaps define multiple careers is clearly the featured attraction during training camp. For as consequential as this competition will be, Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy and their teammates have no interest in intensifying the spotlight or indulging in feelings about the process. The players themselves are trying to keep things as cool as they can. “I\u2019m not really too focused on the long-term vision of it,” Murray said Wednesday before the team’s first formal practice of camp. “I\u2019m really just focused on process, and that\u2019s day to day, trying to put my best foot forward, and proving to the guys and the coaches what I\u2019m capable of.” McCarthy brings a decidedly different resume, style and personality to this derby, but his public stance on his approach to trying to keep the same job he had last year sure sounded similar to Murray’s. “It\u2019s just refining every little detail, leaving no stone unturned and just trying to get better in every aspect,” said McCarthy, whose injuries have limited him to 10 starts in two seasons since he was drafted with the 10th overall pick in 2024. “That\u2019s a constant battle with yourself every single day until you hang \u2019em up.” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell was remarkably transparent in his news conference this week about the plan for dividing up drills in practice between the two. Murray went first with the first team Wednesday, but the repetitions were equally split. “It\u2019s going to be more by certain periods,” O’Connell said. “Maybe a guy\u2019s gotten a little bit more third down work, so then we\u2019ll make sure we try to even it out, but I will say this, and I told the quarterbacks: \u2018We don\u2019t need to make this 50-50.\u2019 It\u2019s going to be that way to start when we\u2019re on a time crunch, but when we get into some longer practices and some move-the-ball periods, there\u2019s some periods where the amount of plays is unknown sometimes as you really start to get into what real football is.” Murray, of course, was the most seismic change after McCarthy’s rocky debut. As the first overall pick in the 2019 draft with 87 starts and more than 20,000 passing yards in his career, Murray is the clear favorite to win this competition. But O’Connell has committed to opening it up, and McCarthy has said he believes him. “My job\u2019s to make it right for either of them, so that\u2019s kind of all I can focus on,” right tackle Brian O’Neill said. “It\u2019s just like any other guy and any other position battle. That\u2019s really what it is from my perspective.” Murray mentioned earlier the challenge of mastering a new offense without taking all of the turns with the first team, but he said Wednesday he feels much better about the playbook after going through spring practices and continuing to immerse himself in it over the last six weeks. McCarthy, too, said he has recovered from the time lost and the rhythm interrupted by his late-season injuries. “I felt like I was hitting that upward trajectory, and I\u2019m certain it\u2019s still been going up since then,” McCarthy said. Reporting by the Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The starting quarterback audition that will shape this season for the Minnesota Vikings and perhaps define multiple careers is clearly the featured attraction during training camp. For as consequential as this competition will be, Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy and their teammates have no interest in intensifying the spotlight or indulging in feelings about the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33081"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}