We are a little over one month away from NFL teams reporting for training camp. This is the time of year when plenty of speculation occurs regarding who will start for each team, specifically at quarterback. There are a few quarterback competitions worth monitoring when training camp begins, and one of the big ones is in Minnesota.
The Vikings signed Kyler Murray in free agency this offseason to compete with former first-round pick J.J. McCarthy. Murray comes over from Arizona, where he spent the first seven seasons of his career. While he did not have much success, he does have upside to be a quality starter under a strong coaching staff in Minnesota.
However, two-time Super Bowl champion LeSean McCoy recently floated the idea that Shedeur Sanders has the ability to be the QB1 for the Vikings.
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Not everyone is convinced that Murray will win the starting job in Minnesota. When asked by Emmanuel Acho about where Sanders could start in the NFL, as of now, McCoy answered, “A couple [of] places. Where you want to start? We could start at with the Vikings.”
“First and foremost, Kyler Murray’s not even starting right now,” McCoy added. “He’s not the starter right now. He’s having a battle right now with a quarterback [J.J. McCarthy] that I don’t think is that good. The truth is I’m not like I don’t think much of him as a quarterback. I think he’s more like an athlete.”
“He’s one of them guys, where in college, like, he doesn’t throw the ball great, but he runs the ball pretty really good,” McCoy said about Murray. “It’s like a mixture. That’s what he is.”
McCoy is correct in saying that Murray is not the confirmed starter; however, he certainly has the inside track to the job. The Vikings have seen what McCarthy is capable of, and it was not much.
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Murray has much more upside than McCarthy, and the Vikings should give him every opportunity to win the job. The Vikings are an interesting team as they played well last season in every spot except quarterback. With better QB play, they likely would have been a playoff team, and that is what they expect with Murray.
This conversation arose after Acho and McCoy discussed Sanders’ future, as reports surfaced that the second-year quarterback is on the trade block and could be sent to a QB-needy team.
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From what we have seen from Sanders, he is not a better NFL QB than Murray, and the chances the Vikings would trade for him are likely slim to none. The Vikings would not sign Murray in free agency to compete with McCarthy and then add another high-profile QB before training camp. The team likely wants to see what they have in their two options first.
As for Sanders, he will be focused on his own QB competition in Cleveland during training camp. He is battling it out with Deshaun Watson for the starting role.
From what we saw from Sanders last season, not many teams are going to line up for his services. According to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, he posted an impact score of 56.7, which ranked third-worst in the league. He has a lot of work to do to become a quality NFL starter, and that is why he is likely to remain in Cleveland for the 2026-27 season.
