What If Kyler Murray Doesn’t Fit? Insider Floats Possible Vikings Trade

Even if Kyler Murray is the most likely outcome as the Vikings' starting quarterback, there's still a real chance things don't go as expected.

In theory, everyone should be able to trust that O'Connell is 100% convinced Murray fits his scheme. However, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, who continues to say Murray will have to win a quarterback competition against J.J. McCarthy before he's crowned the starter, suggested Friday that nobody really knows how Murray will work out in Minnesota.

"There's a lot of ways this can go. I don't see this going the way of Carson Wentz is the Week 1 starter. It's much more likely that this is, alright, if Kyler beats out J.J., J.J's probably the 2, Carson's the 3. If it's not a fit for Kyler in the system and J.J. beats him out, J.J. starts. Now you're figuring out, alright, is Kyler the 2? Are you trading Kyler? Are you elevating Wentz?" Pelissero said on KFAN's Power Trip Morning Show.

When Cory Cove, the host of the radio show, told Pelissero that he doesn't believe there will be a true quarterback competition, Pelissero doubled down on his reporting.

"It is going to be a competition. Kyler hasn't played in this offense before. It may be a hit. It may work out great. It may work out not so great. We don't know that. And because he's on a minimum deal, you're not really taking a financial risk by bringing him in," Pelissero said.

"It might just go, you know what, this doesn't really fit. Kyler is really good in terms of creating things off schedule. He's never played in a precision type of offense like you have with Kevin O'Connell. He grew up in the Air Raid. He played under Kliff Kingsbury," Pelissero continued. "Let's see, it could go really well for Kyler, it could go not so well. J.J. could come and be the same guy, or J.J. could be vastly improved."

It would be quite the surprise if Minnesota is gambling on Murray's skill set because he's cheap.

Even more notable is Pelissero floating the idea that the Vikings could trade Murray in a situation where McCarthy is just too good to bench or if Murray's skills don't translate well in O'Connell's offense.

As unrealistic as that sounds, it might actually be a terrific outcome for Minnesota. McCarthy actually developing into a franchise quarterback would be amazing, and maybe a QB-desperate team would toss the Vikings a solid draft pick for Murray.

Minnesota also has to plan for the long term. If Murray plays well and leaves in free agency in 2027 anyway, the Vikings would really need McCarthy to be ready to take over. If not, they'd be back in the QB gutter, searching for a new starting quarterback for the fourth consecutive season.

Meanwhile, Pelissero believes the Vikings signed Wentz as a bit of a QB security blanket.

"What I would say is, 2022 and 2024, when the quarterbacks stayed healthy, Kirk (Cousins) and Sam Darnold, the Vikings were like 25-11 or something. A really good record. The other two years, you had Jaren Hall start a game, you had to trade for Josh Dobbs, you rolled out Max Brosmer in Seattle. You need three quarterbacks. You need options. They were always going to add a third guy, whether it was bringing in a (Joe) Flacco or somebody of that ilk. They wanted to have a third player that they could actually play in a game," Pelissero explained.

"They wanted to have optionality with the room. There's a lot of different things that can happen between now and September, or now and January. This is just one more guy who played pretty well in the system. Kevin O'Connell loves Wentz. The shoulder that was falling off his body at the end of the year... that's healed now. It's a low-risk type of an addition to the room, where you're probably going to carry three quarterbacks on the active roster because of what you've seen in 2023 and 2025."

However it plays out, it's clear that the Vikings are hedging their bets to avoid another year of quarterback chaos.

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