Friday(ish) Mailbag: The QB future under Teasley

Vikings fans have questions about the QB situation and the new Vikings GM

---

By Matthew Coller

Hey everyone! Apologies for the delay on the Friday Mailbag. Let’s dive into your questions….

John… So how real is McCarthy’s discontent? Will he grow up?

Well, I’m pretty sure JJ showed everyone how real the discontent is. We don’t have to guess about that.

On the other part, I don’t know. That’s entirely up to him. Some guys like Baker Mayfield or Geno Smith eventually get it and they became quality starting QBs. Many guys never get it and end up out of the league pretty quickly. It’s up to him which category he wants to fall into. You can improve accuracy and command of an offense but if somebody doesn’t understand that this is their job and thinks the world revolves around them, they will get humbled pretty quick in the NFL.

Noodlesintheface….2026 Kyler Murray performs well, but not well enough, Vikings let him walk at the end of this year, he goes to another team and wins a Super Bowl with them in the 2027 season, aka the Darnold Special. It’s not LIKELY to happen but it COULD. So when it does, I just give up and accept my fate as a fan, right?

What a place to begin. Keep in mind that the Seattle Seahawks also let go a quality yet flawed quarterback go and then won the Super Bowl.

How about we wait and see how things go with Kyler Murray for a couple of weeks before we land on doomsday?

The favorable thing for Nolan Teasley is that he can take the entire year to evaluate how Kyler fits. If things go well with Murray and KOC believes in him and Jefferson connects with him, then they’ll put a value on his services and figure out if they can come to an agreement that allows them to build around him.

The Darnold thing is pretty much unprecedented. Nobody has ever gotten rid of a quarterback who played at the level Darnold did in 2024.

It would be fascinating to know where they set the bar for Murray to have the discussion about keeping him long term. Is it a certain level of team success? Is it KOC’s feeling about whether he can get the job done? Or is it a certain metric level that he needs to meet? Is it going to come down to price?

It will be fascinating to see it play out.

Bradley P…After yesterday’s press conferences, what’s your pie chart for who the quarterback is next year?

I’ll go with 40% chance it’s Kyler, 30% it’s a different veteran, 20% it’s a draft pick and 10% JJ McCarthy or another developing young QB

The reality about the quarterback position is that we never really know how it’s going to play out. If someone told you two years ago that Sam Darnold was a Super Bowl champion, you would have assumed it was like a Trent Dilfer thing or some starting QB got hurt in the playoffs and he played one game. Now he’s a star. Things change quickly.

Even with Matthew Stafford, did anyone think we’d be talking Hall of Fame back in 2020 before he was traded? I wouldn’t have said that, even if I thought he was better than what he did with the Lions.

From Teasley’s perspective, there’s nothing better than being able to draft his own quarterback so if there’s a position where they could pick a QB and have a veteran to start right away, that would be favorable for a longer term roster build.

At the same time, stability at the QB position also allows the GM to focus all of his draft assets entirely on the rest of the roster. We’ve seen this work pretty darn well for flawed QBs in Philly and San Francisco.

It’s a very, very interesting situation that will ultimately define what Teasley is remembered for in Minnesota, no matter how well he drafts.

Matt D…. Will Teasley be the one to finally force KOC to run the gosh darn football?

It doesn’t work like that. The GM does not force the coach to do anything when it comes to scheme or play calling. They can talk about it but the HC is in charge of everything regarding schematics and in-game management and a GM trying to tell the coach what to do wouldn’t go over well with the coaches or ownership. Remember they pay the coach way more than the GM.

There is a way to inspire KOC to run the ball more often and more successfully. That’s to have an amazing running back and an offensive line that dominates in run blocking. I saw a chart the other day that showed a very strong correlation between PFF run blocking grade and success rate for a team’s run game, so it has to start there.

But most of the NFL’s top running backs were drafted in the first three rounds. KOC hasn’t had a top 15 RB at any point since he got here and I don’t think that’s just because of his scheme and philosophy. That’s because he inherited a fading Dalvin Cook and then they were forced to scramble.

I think Jordan Mason is good and Aaron Jones has definitely had his moments but they don’t have a RB who strikes fear into opponents. That’s necessary the way teams are playing defense in the NFL today.

Pickle Enjoyer… Is Olivia Miles the Ricky Rubio that we were promised?

Pretty much, yeah. The difference is that Miles has an amazing team around her. What people seemed to ignore about the Lynx offseason is that they have three All-Star starters and the greatest coach in league history. Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride are incredible players who led them to back to back top-2 seasons over the last two years and Natasha Howard was All-WNBA and DPOY a few years ago. It’s exactly like a quarterback. What you put around them matters. Miles has the best situation in the league and she’s maximizing her talent because of it.

SKOLiosis….Hey Matthew! I feel like the NFC runs through the Rams and Seahawks. What are two moves, practical and feasible, that MN could make before the season starts, or mid season before the deadline to truly compete with those teams?

It would have to be something huge on the defensive side. The first thing that came to mind would be the Sauce Gardner trade that the Colts made last year or another pass rusher to put alongside Dallas Turner and allow Andrew Van Ginkel to play everywhere all the time.

I think they have enough offensively to compete if Kyler is a top-12 QB but always asking your DC to squeeze every ounce out of the talent he has on defense isn’t the same as just telling some freak show elite players to go play ball. I’m not down on the secondary but having a top-10 cornerback who really made life difficult on opposing WRs would make it a nightmare for offenses. Last year they only really got beat when top receivers made plays against them.

I suppose the other position would be running back. If the Vikings are the 15th best run game and then a star RB comes available, that could be a difference maker for an offense whose ceiling is probably limited without a top 10 RB.

The standard has to be very high to make a big play type move because Teasley is here to build for the future but if they were something like 6-2 with a +60 point differential at the trade deadline and we were seeing great play from Kyler and rookies like Banks and Orange shine right away, it might be worth it because this core doesn’t have much longer together.

Dermo Man…. I think the Vikings couldn’t be better set up for success in terms of GM, KOC and Flores (Is this just off season optimism?). What is your view for the next few years .

I tend to agree with this. Everyone outside of LA and Seattle is going to have criticisms for their head coach but O’Connell has already proven that he can win a lot of football games when he has a decent-to-good quarterback and Flores is the best in the business. Teasley presumably emphasizing the draft and a methodical build would seem to give them the best chance that they could possibly ask for.

That said, we haven’t seen anything yet from the GM so it’s impossible to really know how it’s going to go. And it’s all going to come down to nailing the QB.

From a process perspective, I really like the way the Wilfs went with this hire. Outside voice but a proven person at a high level from a top notch organization.

Arin J… Will the upcoming mini camp give a better impression on the cornerback room behind James Pierre or will that have to wait until training camp? Can we see if McGlothern or Vaughn have made strides?

Realistically we always have to wait until training camp. Reporters try the best we can to paint the picture of what things are looking like during OTAs and minicamp but battles are not won and lost during the spring. Nobody has pads on and they don’t allow any type of physical play. So we can see flashes of receivers and defensive backs and we can hone in on where players align and what coaches are saying about them but that’s about it.

I do think that developing the UDFAs over a couple of years is a good play and I’m interested to see how Vaughn and Demmings specifically play during camp.

We all want lots of answers now because we love football and are totally obsessed but we also have to recognize that nobody paid attention to OTAs and minicamp 10 years ago for a reason.

Brent K… I was surprised Teasley did not say anything specific about Kyler Murray in his presser other than the QB room is competitive. But the Seahawks have played Murray many times, so Teasley must have a very strong view on him. Your thoughts? Also, can you and your fellow Vikings reporters press on this? Inquiring minds want to know.

I would also like to hear Teasley talk about what Seattle saw when they traded Geno Smith and signed Sam Darnold in 2025. Rumor has it they won a Super Bowl after that move. Hopefully that’s why Teasley has full roster control.

I wasn’t surprised at all that Teasley didn’t show his cards when it came to the QB situation and I promise you we’ll always be asking about the QB in every single press conference with Teasley for the rest of time.

Why would he say anything that sounded like a commitment when he just got here? Yes, he has an impression of Murray and my guess is that he’s probably pretty skeptical of him as a long-term option because Murray is 2-9 career vs. Seattle and he was available for a reason. But there’s no way in heck that he’s going to tell us that he loves or hates him and then be on record sounding like he’s either questioning whether Kyler can do it when he’s the QB for 2026 (remember when Kwesi did that with Kirk?) or sound like he can’t live without him when you never know how it’s going to go. Teasley answered that Q the right way.

We already know that Geno vs. Darnold came down to money and Klint Kubiak. Smith wanted a big raise and Seattle wasn’t willing to do it and Kubiak was with Darnold in San Francisco and saw him every day for an entire year. It was really that simple.

Also, I just want to point out that anyone blaming the Darnold thing solely on Kwesi is being ridiculous. That was a whole organizational decision. KOC, Kwesi, Wilfs. Everyone involved owns that.

KellyJ…. I’m interested in Teasley doing a “full audit” of the Vikings draft process. Do you think part of that would include comparing where he had the Vikings draft picks ranked in Seattle, accounting for team fit differences, and use that as part of the what were you thinking exercise? Also, I sure hope he brings in some of his top evaluators and analytical experts from his old staff.

I can’t say that I know exactly what Teasley is going to be looking for when he does the audit of the front office. I can guess that he wants to understand the process of how the scouts were directed to do their jobs and then compare that with what they did in Seattle.

I’d assume that looking at previous evaluations by the team and comparing them to what they thought in Seattle is part of that entire assessment along with getting to know the individuals who have been delivering the information is a major part as well.

The plus side for Teasley is that he gets time to get to know everyone during this year and then make determinations about how everyone responds to the way he wants to do things. Then he can decide if he’s going to keep people or move on.

I really liked Teasley’s answer to my question about evaluating players, “anchoring” in analytics and then getting the coaches to figure out the fits and development paths. It hasn’t always felt like that was the way of going about things in the past.

LA Bob… This feels like Year Zero for Teasley, since he has no responsibility for the team makeup (draft, free agency, coaches, etc). Anything that happens this year is due to Rob, Kwesi, KOC. When can we realistically start evaluating Teasley’s impact on the team? 2026 trade deadline? 2027 draft? 2027 QB decision?

We can begin with whatever happens at the end of this summer. Having control of the 53-man roster means deciding on which players to cut out of camp and then trying to elevate your roster through signings or trades like they’ve made pretty frequently in the past right before the season (for better or worse).

Then the trade deadline will be really telling. If they are struggling, does he let it ride or move some guys? If the team is awesome, does he start his tenure with a big move? Something in between?

We really won’t start to see the true vision until next March and April though. You’ll have to be patient.

Basically, DO SOMETHING NOLAN!

Dale S… Any updates on Darrisaw? I like the depth they added but if he is close to 100% I think they have a chance to be a very good offense with Murray as QB1.

Yep, O’Connell said that he’s had a good spring from a health standpoint and he’s been doing pretty much everything in terms of reps. Darrisaw said that he feels the best he’s felt since 2024.

I agree with you, a lot of the offense hinges on Darrisaw’s health.

Matt R…. His agent, his parents, his coaches... Maybe Carson Wentz...? Someone needs to sit JJ McCarthy down and say “bruh, you gotta grow up.” If we don’t see a little maturity, I think his career is over. I already figured to keep his career going as a journeyman, he’ll need to buckle down, work hard, and leave no doubts he is the #2 QB this year (to be #1, he’d have to wow the coaches pants off and I think it’s already clear that’s not happening). #2 isn’t such a bad thing, as Kyler has been banged up recently so #2 QB will get a shot with this team. That said, if I’m Nolan Teasley, JJMC’s lifespan with the Vikings is no longer than after next year, regardless of how Kyler does this year.