Kevin O’Connell Isn’t Giving Any Hints Towards Vikings Starting QB
The QB competition in Minnesota being held by Kevin O’Connell is getting interesting.
On Thursday, the Minnesota Vikings finished up the final day of mandatory minicamp. Lots of reports came out about the QB play from Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy throughout it, and they only seemed to complicate the narrative surrounding it. If you are hoping McCarthy comes out as the starter, that may be a good thing.
The biggest report came on the first day when it came out that Kyler Murray threw back-to-back interceptions during 7-on-7 drills. This was great news for the McCarthy camp, and it got even better when it got reported that he had a day with only one incompletion.
Since mandatory minicamp isn’t open to fans, we have to rely on our media members to give us the true lowdown about what’s happening on the practice field. Luckily for our wonderful readers, our very own Kyle Joudry was live and in action during the activities. He had a surprising takeaway that he shared that would make McCarthy superfans very happy.
McCarthy had a decent minicamp, and he must take big steps in order to overcome the Murray mountain. Still, Kevin O’Connell isn’t showing his cards yet.
Kevin O’Connell Keeping QB Decision Close to the Vest
O’Connell gave reporters an update on the timeline of deciding the Vikings’ starting QB.
“We have a plan in place to make sure that the decision we make is gonna be about what’s best for the Minnesota Vikings. And the timeline of that does involve making sure we get our starter ready to go. We want to make sure by the time we play the Green Bay Packers that there’s been ample time to have the best possible offense we can have to help our football team, and the quarterback’s gonna play a big role in that. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”
Minnesota would be better off to make a decision sooner rather than later, as the starting QB will benefit from getting the most amount of reps with the starting offense under Kevin O’Connell as possible.
O’Connell continued on about the process:
“As far as the timeline goes, I think to give an actual date would be not necessarily accurate from a portrayal of how we see it, but there is a timeline to make sure that we can allow the competition to continue and advance and really lay out a training camp that will allow us to do that, but also make a timely decision.”
It’s fair to say that maybe there just hasn’t been enough information gathered yet, but the Vikings will need to make a decision soon so they can maximize the reps taken by the eventual QB1.
Will Kevin O’Connell Actually Consider Naming J.J. McCarthy the Starter?
When Kyler Murray was signed, many jumped to the conclusion that he would immediately be named the starter behind closed doors. The Vikings at the very least are making it seem like that’s not what’s going on.
Murray and McCarthy are both splitting reps, but you can only do that for so long. One of those men will need to be named starter sooner rather than later, and before training camp would be a good time to do so.
Make sure that you name the starter ahead of training camp so they can get those starting reps, the reps during preseason, and the reps during joint practices. The Vikings need their QB1 prepared to the highest degree in a season where they need to succeed.
