Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell sat on the Dan Patrick Show this week and said the Vikings want their quarterback position to be “a driving force” again. To that effect, he opened the offseason training program with an open competition between JJ McCarthy and Kyler Murray. While O’Connell believes McCarthy has “benefited from it,” veteran analyst Colin Cowherd believes McCarthy’s hype has already run its course in Minnesota.

“When people say competition is how you find out the best quarterback, that’s true in high school, college, and seven-on-seven camps. It’s not true in football.” Cowherd said on The Herd. “You got to go into a camp with a guy because the margins are so thin and the coaching is so good. Belief – the locker room believing in the quarterback can be the difference.

“We know this to be true. The better the quarterback generally can help a defense late in games to get the ball back. It’s a more inspired defense. So, we know the coach is great. We know Brian Flores and the defense were top three. We know Justin Jefferson is probably the best wide receiver in the NFL. And we know Sam Darnold won 14 games here. The truth is, the worst place you can ever be as a pro coach in any league is when you have to lie, when you have to protect. They don’t want JJ McCarty to be a bust, but he’s a miss.”

McCarthy missed the entire rookie season with a torn meniscus in the 2024 preseason opener. His first regular season came in 2025, but he also missed 7 games due to multiple injuries. A high ankle sprain cost him five games, a concussion cost him one, and a hairline fracture in his throwing hand sidelined him in Week 17. He did go 6-4 as a starter, but the Vikings never got the consistency they needed from their former 1st-round pick.

Kyler Murray, on the other hand, brings an experience of seven seasons from Arizona, and two Pro Bowl nods that McCarthy doesn’t have yet. Murray admitted he’s “learning on the fly” faced with a new team and a new system and noted that the “toughest part” is to split practice reps with McCarthy. But as Cowherd sees it, the locker room might have already made its decision, even if Kevin O’Connell hasn’t.

“Everybody in the room knows quarterback is the issue,” Cowherd said. “That’s why I’ve said before, Kyler Murray’s gonna work here. He’s not going to work as much as Sam Darnold because he’s not as good as Sam Darnold, but Kyler Murray is gonna win the job because he’s going to own the locker room because the players think he’s more talented. And JJ McCarthy may flourish elsewhere. But when you go to a solid organization and it doesn’t work after two or three years, it’s not going to work.”

JJ McCarthy’s struggles are a timing problem rather than talent. A young QB needs reps to build rhythm. Splitting snaps with a veteran like Murray means he never gets them, and McCarthy’s health concerns cannot be ignored either.

The training camp opens on August 1st for Minnesota and runs through the 20th, ending with two joint practice sessions with the Baltimore Ravens. This is the window JJ McCarthy has to establish himself as a starter and prove all the narratives around him wrong.