Vikings Offseason 2026

[nicksaviking]

4 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Don't underestimate Murray's ability to be hurt or awful.

I’m fully expecting to see round two of Wentz at some point due to those questions.

In any case, at the end of the season it should be clear to everyone that this team needs to once again take a swing at finding a new franchise QB.

 

[Vanimal46]

I've been ignoring the day to day camp "QB competition" stuff from the beat reporters... I think it was a foregone conclusion from the day Kyler Murray signed he was going to be the week 1 starter. Thinking about how this team will do, I will be equally as surprised if we win 4 games or 13 games. 

The only thing I'm confident about is Flores churning out another top 10 defense. Beyond that, I have no idea what to expect from the offense. Murray was always a square peg in a round hole for a traditional KOC offense. 

[The Great Hambino]

Tai Felton: legitimately primed to make a leap in Year 2, or have writers simply been watching the same guys practice for too long?

[Danchat]

1 hour ago, The Great Hambino said:

Tai Felton: legitimately primed to make a leap in Year 2, or have writers simply been watching the same guys practice for too long?

Hard to know if it's legit or not, based on two weeks of practice. What I do know is that O'Connell rarely ever uses formations with 4 WRs and Jennings is locked in as the WR3. So add in 2TE sets with Hock and Oliver getting a lot of snaps and spending a 5th rounder on a FB, I don't see Felton getting on the field much without an injury to a WR ahead of him.

[TheLeviathan]

19 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

I've been ignoring the day to day camp "QB competition" stuff from the beat reporters... I think it was a foregone conclusion from the day Kyler Murray signed he was going to be the week 1 starter. Thinking about how this team will do, I will be equally as surprised if we win 4 games or 13 games. 

The only thing I'm confident about is Flores churning out another top 10 defense. Beyond that, I have no idea what to expect from the offense. Murray was always a square peg in a round hole for a traditional KOC offense. 

I think Vikings fans are going to find out why the Cardinals paid 40M to usher him out the door.

He'll make some fun plays, but he's a frustratingly bad QB for long stretches of time.

[Vanimal46]

4 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I think Vikings fans are going to find out why the Cardinals paid 40M to usher him out the door.

He'll make some fun plays, but he's a frustratingly bad QB for long stretches of time.

It's not going to be pretty if he's supposed to stand in the pocket and wait for long developing pass routes. This would be a pretty good year to bottom out given the list of QB prospects that could enter the draft...

[Vanimal46]

Kyler officially named the starting QB. 

[Danchat]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

It's not going to be pretty if he's supposed to stand in the pocket and wait for long developing pass routes. This would be a pretty good year to bottom out given the list of QB prospects that could enter the draft...

You just know we're going to win 8-9 games again, not be good enough to make the playoffs / or win a playoff game, but also not have a high enough pick in a deep QB class.

[Vanimal46]

6 minutes ago, Danchat said:

You just know we're going to win 8-9 games again, not be good enough to make the playoffs / or win a playoff game, but also not have a high enough pick in a deep QB class.

It’s the Vikings way 

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

Kyler officially named the starting QB. 

How bad does JMac have to look to get beat out by an injury prone munchkin.

[TheLeviathan]

At this point I want us to basically scrap the passing game and go straight up wishbone.  Win 6-0 every week.

[Vanimal46]

44 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

How bad does JMac have to look to get beat out by an injury prone munchkin.

I'm far from being a McCarthy fan, but let's be honest. There was no real competition. Murray was going to be the starter the moment he signed the contract. This is KOC in coach survival mode. He is running a PR campaign to separate himself from the draft selection, placing all blame on Kwesi. Now this offseason up to this point was a PR campaign to separate himself from McCarthy without throwing him under the bus. 

By week 1 I would guess McCarthy is traded for a 6th or 7th round pick and fully move on from him. 

[nicksaviking]

4 hours ago, Danchat said:

You just know we're going to win 8-9 games again, not be good enough to make the playoffs / or win a playoff game, but also not have a high enough pick in a deep QB class.

Yeah, frustrating. Kyler could be the worst starting QB in the league and he still won't be as bad as McCarthy was last year when the Vikings were 9-8.

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

I'm far from being a McCarthy fan, but let's be honest. There was no real competition. Murray was going to be the starter the moment he signed the contract. This is KOC in coach survival mode. He is running a PR campaign to separate himself from the draft selection, placing all blame on Kwesi. Now this offseason up to this point was a PR campaign to separate himself from McCarthy without throwing him under the bus. 

By week 1 I would guess McCarthy is traded for a 6th or 7th round pick and fully move on from him. 

Ha, yeah to me the timing of this announcement makes it crystal clear what happened. News over the weekend was that Murray didn't do well but McCarthy looked...OK. 

So KOC had to quash any more of that talk because like every non-casual fan already knew that it was long ago pre-ordained that Murray was the starter and McCarthy was auditioning for QB 2 at best and another team at worst.

[nicksaviking]

I'm going to be optimistic pessimistic and say this defense is going to drag Kyler Murray Carson Wentz and the underperforming Vikings offense to a surprising 10-7 record that the casual fans will celebrate, only for the team to get trounced by 30 in the first round at which point all of these causal fans will finally say, 'Oh crap, I just realized our QB situation is worse than ever before and now we can't even draft one! Why did I listen to the sugar coated nonsense Paul Allen and Mark Rosen were spreading all year!"

I know the Vikings didn't get the last place schedule, but good lord, it's like the schedule makers already decided they didn't want the Vikings in the top half of the draft.

 

[Danchat]

51 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Ha, yeah to me the timing of this announcement makes it crystal clear what happened. News over the weekend was that Murray didn't do well but McCarthy looked...OK. 

So KOC had to quash any more of that talk because like every non-casual fan already knew that it was long ago pre-ordained that Murray was the starter and McCarthy was auditioning for QB 2 at best and another team at worst.

IMO he made the decision now because Kyler needs every rep he can get with the 1s. To be fair to him, even Kirk and Sam had some rough practices in their first season learning KOC's system. It's too early to panic, but also disconcerting that Kyler was not separating himself from JJM...

[Mike Sixel]

46 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I'm going to be optimistic pessimistic and say this defense is going to drag Kyler Murray Carson Wentz and the underperforming Vikings offense to a surprising 10-7 record that the casual fans will celebrate, only for the team to get trounced by 30 in the first round at which point all of these causal fans will finally say, 'Oh crap, I just realized our QB situation is worse than ever before and now we can't even draft one! Why did I listen to the sugar coated nonsense Paul Allen and Mark Rosen were spreading all year!"

I know the Vikings didn't get the last place schedule, but good lord, it's like the schedule makers already decided they didn't want the Vikings in the top half of the draft.

 

Ten or eleven wins is my prediction. Great defense, meh offense except against awful teams.

[Vanimal46]

36 minutes ago, Danchat said:

IMO he made the decision now because Kyler needs every rep he can get with the 1s. To be fair to him, even Kirk and Sam had some rough practices in their first season learning KOC's system. It's too early to panic, but also disconcerting that Kyler was not separating himself from JJM...

Yeah, no reason to keep the lie going. They have a month to prepare for Green Bay opening week. 

I hope they give Murray some run in the preseason too. Wouldn’t mind him playing the first half, if not most of the game on Saturday. 

[nicksaviking]

4 hours ago, Danchat said:

IMO he made the decision now because Kyler needs every rep he can get with the 1s. To be fair to him, even Kirk and Sam had some rough practices in their first season learning KOC's system. It's too early to panic, but also disconcerting that Kyler was not separating himself from JJM...

I'm definitely not panicked. But that's because my expectations for this team are lacking.

Funny to say after I just boldly predicted a 10-7 season, but it looks like a hallow 10-7 to me.

[nicksaviking]

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Ten or eleven wins is my prediction. Great defense, meh offense except against awful teams.

I just went in to adjust my prices for the season tickets I want to sell this year. Wow, so many bad games nobody will want to go to. Atlanta, Carolina, Indianapolis, Washington.

[Mike Sixel]

39 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I just went in to adjust my prices for the season tickets I want to sell this year. Wow, so many bad games nobody will want to go to. Atlanta, Carolina, Indianapolis, Washington.

It's a soft schedule.

[nicksaviking]

19 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

This is KOC in coach survival mode. He is running a PR campaign to separate himself from the draft selection, placing all blame on Kwesi.

Coming back to this, I'm sure it's accurate but it's so dumb and KOC better not be making decisions based on this. McCarthy was the FIFTH QB taken in that draft. Anyone who follows football knew that even a good Pro-QB mind couldn't guarantee success, particularly for a non-elite prospect. 

I bet if I dug through this board long enough I'd find plenty of us posters who said that we weren't confident in McCarthy but we agreed the Vikings had to take the shot. It didn't work out. So what?!?! We knew what we were signing up for, try again and hope things play out better next time.

But charade aside, I only ever wanted this experiment to be two years, so if they are moving on, props to KOC and the Vikings for cutting their losses now instead of playing the sunk cost game like the Panthers are with Bryce Young. I don't like the subterfuge because I don't think there's any reason they need to 'save face' but I do like the decisiveness.

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

Coming back to this, I'm sure it's accurate but it's so dumb and KOC better not be making decisions based on this. McCarthy was the FIFTH QB taken in that draft. Anyone who follows football knew that even a good Pro-QB mind couldn't guarantee success, particularly for a non-elite prospect. 

I bet if I dug through this board long enough I'd find plenty of us posters who said that we weren't confident in McCarthy but we agreed the Vikings had to take the shot. It didn't work out. So what?!?! We knew what we were signing up for, try again and hope things play out better next time.

But charade aside, I only ever wanted this experiment to be two years, so if they are moving on, props to KOC and the Vikings for cutting their losses now instead of playing the sunk cost game like the Panthers are with Bryce Young. I don't like the subterfuge because I don't think there's any reason they need to 'save face' but I do like the decisiveness.

I’ve got receipts on another Vikings forum where I graded both Bo Nix and McCarthy as 2nd round talents. There were plenty of rumors of us wanting to trade up for Drake Maye which I’m sure was KOC’s ideal choice. Then I wonder if Penix was the 2nd choice and they got thrown through a loop when Atlanta took him at 8 overall?

[nicksaviking]

32 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I’ve got receipts on another Vikings forum where I graded both Bo Nix and McCarthy as 2nd round talents. There were plenty of rumors of us wanting to trade up for Drake Maye which I’m sure was KOC’s ideal choice. Then I wonder if Penix was the 2nd choice and they got thrown through a loop when Atlanta took him at 8 overall?

Could be, but I hope not for KOC's sake. I liked Nix much better than Penix, who I really disliked as he was a complete statue who couldn't even throw on bootlegs and was surprisingly inaccurate despite some of his passing numbers. I eventually got talked back off of Nix too though. And you know, I think everyone was right, in so far as he has turned out to be a good QB, but like many suggested, he was already at his ceiling. 

[Mike Sixel]

20 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Could be, but I hope not for KOC's sake. I liked Nix much better than Penix, who I really disliked as he was a complete statue who couldn't even throw on bootlegs and was surprisingly inaccurate despite some of his passing numbers. I eventually got talked back off of Nix too though. And you know, I think everyone was right, in so far as he has turned out to be a good QB, but like many suggested, he was already at his ceiling. 

Nix will be the second or third best QB in the class, and a league average QB. Put that with a great defense and coach....

[The Great Hambino]

5 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

I’ve got receipts on another Vikings forum where I graded both Bo Nix and McCarthy as 2nd round talents. There were plenty of rumors of us wanting to trade up for Drake Maye which I’m sure was KOC’s ideal choice. Then I wonder if Penix was the 2nd choice and they got thrown through a loop when Atlanta took him at 8 overall?

I'm convinced that the trade up to get a second first rounder weeks (months??) before the draft was done explicitly to gather ammo to make a run at Maye. 

One problem with this is that you generally are paying a premium in value to move up in the draft, all else equal.  By doing it this way, they'd have to pay the premium twice.

Of course, another problem with this is that it still wasn't enough.  They didn't help themselves by panicking and trading up again anyway, resulting in paying the double premium for Turner.  This is why draft trades generally don't happen until draft night* once the draft order is locked in: if teams are paying a premium, they want to know exactly who they're getting by paying it.  A shining example of KAM's misadventures in draft board management

 

 

* - exceptions for trading the #1 or #2 pick - when these happen, the teams trading up can be reasonably sure that their guy will be there

[Vanimal46]

6 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Could be, but I hope not for KOC's sake. I liked Nix much better than Penix, who I really disliked as he was a complete statue who couldn't even throw on bootlegs and was surprisingly inaccurate despite some of his passing numbers. I eventually got talked back off of Nix too though. And you know, I think everyone was right, in so far as he has turned out to be a good QB, but like many suggested, he was already at his ceiling. 

Penix kinda fits the type of QB KOC wants. Pocket passer with a live arm. And you say statue but the guy ran a 4.5 40 at the combine he was sneaky fast. Not so sure these days after yet another knee injury. 

[Danchat]

9 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

I’ve got receipts on another Vikings forum where I graded both Bo Nix and McCarthy as 2nd round talents. There were plenty of rumors of us wanting to trade up for Drake Maye which I’m sure was KOC’s ideal choice. Then I wonder if Penix was the 2nd choice and they got thrown through a loop when Atlanta took him at 8 overall?

Possible, but it was widely known that the Vikings really liked JJM - the betting odds were heavy on Vikings taking him, I checked in my 2024 mock draft documents and found that every single one of my favorite draftniks had us taking him, there is footage of Sean McVay on the phone with the Vikings talking about trading up on draft night and he refers to our pick as "Kevin's guy". They also traded 4th and 5th rounders away to move up one spot to get him just in case the Broncos were going to leap us. I could see them seeing Penix as the backup in case as they decided not to spend multiple 1sts to move up (which was heavily speculated, going up to 5 or 6), but all signs indicated JJM was the pick even if Penix was on the board.

It's only in hindsight now that he's flaming out that we are questioning whether KOC really wanted him. In the scenario we take Maye, does anyone dare claim that KOC didn't want him and he was solely a KAM pick? There are people on other sites making that argument and it confounds me - KOC was driving the selection of the QB in 2024.

[Vanimal46]

Jamal Adams gets carted off the field with a non contact leg injury. That’ll probably do it for him. 

[Vanimal46]

Didn’t watch a second of the game, but from what I’m gathering online McCarthy played poorly.