Training camp is mere weeks away, meaning the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback battle between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy is due to resume soon
Just don’t make it sound unique when discussing the matter with coach Kevin O’Connell
“I’m not really familiar with a closed competition,” O’Connell said during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show when asked about the open competition between Murray and McCarthy. “I’ve heard that everyone’s fascinated with that aspect of it, but here’s what I would say. … Really the goal going into this offseason was to elevate the quarterback position because when we have a certain standard of play that we feel like we have multiple guys in that room that we feel are capable of reaching that standard, the Minnesota Vikings win football games. The best way to achieve that is having a daily attempt to have guys push each other and not just always need the outside noise or not always need what the narratives may be.
“Let’s roll the ball out there, and let’s try to help the Minnesota Vikings get better.”
O’Connell’s response falls directly into the competition breeds excellence camp, also commonly known as the iron sharpens iron faction, but it’s a necessary approach for a Vikings team that was good enough to win nine games last season despite lacking any semblance of stability under center. That reality motivated Minnesota to act quickly in engaging and signing Murray
Beyond that point, however, the narrative diverges. O’Connell and Co. will understandably spin the addition of Murray as encouraging competition. He made the same case again in the aforementioned response. But those who understand where McCarthy is in his development and who Murray is as a quarterback will lean toward Murray winning the job, an outcome that likely wouldn’t upset O’Connell
Some believe Murray already owns the starting job
Even if true, O’Connell isn’t going to admit as much, not in early July with an entire camp and preseason ahead for his team. Instead, he decided to deliver a detailed breakdown of the entire quarterback room, because few approaches fill time better than a filibuster
“Kyler has come in and done a great job,” O’Connell said. “J.J., I think, has benefit[ed] from it; he’s had a really good spring. Carson Wentz is this veteran quarterback in the room. As a guy who’s played seven or eight quarterbacks in four years, the two years we had our starter play the whole season, we won 13 and 14 games. So we want to try to get back to the standard of having the quarterback position be a driving force behind us winning by doing their job, by hopefully activating the great players they get to play with.
“We’ve got a great defense. (Defensive coordinator) Brian Flores has done an unbelievable job. If we can limit giving the football away and generate some explosives and get our run game going — although no one’s really talking about that, that has been a major emphasis of this offseason, both from a coaching staff standpoint and a player development and offensive development standpoint
“I’m excited about where we’re at, but we won’t really know until we go calcifying, forging our team together. We’re gonna compete in the NFC North. It’s a very, very competitive division.”
July is the time in which football folks use plenty of different metaphors to describe the preparation process. Building calluses. Calcifying. Whichever you prefer, the process remains largely the same: Assemble a team, put them to work and emerge with a defined depth chart come September
O’Connell will commence such a process in less than three weeks
