Who Should I Start? Sam Darnold or Kyler Murray

Wednesday, August 5, 2:54 PM

Minnesota Vikings writer Will Ragatz reports that several deep balls from quarterback Kyler Murray were the big story over the course of Wednesday's training camp practice, and he also "showed off his legs a few times." Ragatz adds that he expects Murray to win the QB1 job over J.J. McCarthy because of his ability to create explosive plays. The Vikings are splitting first-team reps evenly between Murray and McCarthy early in camp, with both signal-callers having their moments so far. McCarthy has more familiarity with head coach Kevin O'Connell's system, but the 28-year-old Murray has more NFL experience and a better dual-threat skill set with his arm and his legs. The former first overall pick by Arizona in 2019 from the University of Oklahoma has played in under 10 games in two of the last three years due to injuries, and he's never thrown for 4,000 yards in his seven NFL campaigns, but it's quite clear that he gives Minnesota's offense more upside as he looks for a bounce-back campaign in 2026. Murray is one of the more intriguing low-end QB2 targets in superflex leagues with an improved receiving corps compared to what he had in Arizona.