Kyler Murray Gets His Marching Orders

Broadly speaking, Kyler Murray is considered the favorite to be the Vikings’ QB1. He’ll need to listen to the marching orders he received from skipper Kevin O’Connell to earn that top job.

Prior to the end of minicamp, Coach O’Connell stepped in front of the media. His reflections swerved into different topics — the flag football tournament, Caleb Banks getting healthy, the o-line under Keith Carter — but ample attention was spent on the passer battle. Some of the moments where Murray was the key focus involved O’Connell noting the need to continue mastering the scheme.

Kyler Murray Knows What He Needs to Improve

Swerve off of Murray by considering the other combatant: J.J. McCarthy. What are his marching orders? The answer will be well known for many.

For starters, McCarthy had to get his body healthy. He then had to improve his mechanics, something he sought to do by working with private QB coach John Beck in California. Afterwards, come back to Minnesota to continue mastering the various throws he needs to master. In particular, there’s the layered throw that was such a focus all of last year.

Oh, and step up in the head-to-head battle that was taking place in practice. Fix the mechanics, learn to throw pitches beyond a fastball, and fight like a madman in the competition. That has been McCarthy’s task.

Now, as for Kyler Murray. The job he’s now facing is to continue digesting the meaty Kevin O’Connell scheme.

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At one point, O’Connell said that Murray’s “challenge” involves overcoming the feeling of “being a little uncomfortable.” Essentially, embrace the limited reps and new system in a manner that allows him to grow even further.

Carson Wentz arrived in Minnesota as an older player who had been in a pile of different schemes (including with the Rams, a spot that’s quite similar to the Vikings). Murray boasts no such benefit, having only played in a pair of offenses but all while in Arizona. The remarkably talented passer therefore has to acclimate to what is a new experience.

Not too long afterwards, O’Connell said even more: “You’re really layering the learning for these guys, and you try to put it together in a way where everything kind of fits like a puzzle piece […] I think [Kyler Murray has] handled that well, but there’s always a point where you can feel that overflow start to happen. And then you acknowledge where that point is and then you figure out a way, really, in many ways it’s going to be Kyler over the summer really diving back into things.”

Shortly thereafter, O’Connell described how Murray has already “improved massively.”

So, that’s a good thing, but O’Connell is offering nice insight. In those moments where things get choppy, Murray has to circle back to smooth things out. Putting in that work in his own time is seen as being central to the process.

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While at TCO, I was able to ask Murray about his summer plans. His response largely affirmed a desire to do precisely what O’Connell is asking. The summer time off won’t be time off, per Murray. Instead, the newcomer at QB will look to continue learning and growing in Minnesota’s offense. How well he does within this ambition is going to largely determine his ability to become the starter.

In a lot of ways, the only hindrance for Kyler Murray is his fit within the scheme.

In the past, Murray has proven to be potent in a quick-paced, vertical offense where he has been allowed to function out of shotgun a lot of the time. Minnesota will need to adjust to some of those preferences. Nevertheless, Murray does need to grow as he gets to a point where he can be under center more than in the past while corralling a very complex scheme (something many players have noted).

In August, Kyler Murray will turn 29.

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