Training camp recap: Day 1

Both quarterbacks took the podium and then put together solid days on the field

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — Welcome back, everybody.

The Minnesota Vikings opened training camp on Wednesday with a 90-minute practice and four press conferences.

Let’s dive in…

Everything I heard

Brian Flores on Jamal Adams

To open camp, the Vikings signed the former Seattle and Las Vegas safety/linebacker. GM Nolan Teasley said that he had communicated with Brian Flores about the potential fit for Adams before they made the signing. On Wednesday, Flores talked about his excitement for Adams to join his defense.

“Always had a lot of respect and a lot of admiration for Jamal and his game going all the way back to college,” Flores said. “Obviously a high draft pick, who has had a lot of very, very productive years…just spending time with him, this is a football guy. He kind of lives and breathes the game. There’s a joy and a love for the game that’s infectious. You can kind of feel that in 24 hours.”

The Vikings are listing Adams as a linebacker so he is presumably going to spend the vast majority of his time in the box. But Flores’ defense always opens the door for versatility when it comes to LBs and safeties.

“He’s obviously played a lot of different roles, so i’ll see what that that looks like,” Flores said. “I tell guys all the time your your role on this unit is whatever you make it.”

Adams talked after practice and said that he’s willing to take on any job on the defense.

I can play linebacker, safety, corner, nose tackle, D-end, kicker, it don’t even matter. Whatever position you want me to play, I’ll play. You want me to walk the dog, I’ll walk the dog.”

Asked why he was interested in playing for the Vikings, he said: “Nolan and Flo”

The message to Dallas Turner

With the Vikings sending Jonathan Greenard in a trade to the Philadelphia Eagles, 2024 first-round pick Dallas Turner is now in a position to take over as the Vikings’ top pass rusher. Flores’ message to him, however, was that he needs to focus on his job on every given play and not the pressure of replacing Greenard.

“Losing J.G., obviously [Turner will] have a bigger role, he understands that,” Flores said. “But it’s not like we’re throwing a lot of pressure on him saying, ‘hey, you have to be this.’ That’s not really our style of play. The message to our guys always is we play team defense. I’m not asking anybody to take over a game. We do it together as a unit, as a group.”

B-Flo without Hitman

As of Day 1, this is the first time that Flores will be the defensive coordinator of the Vikings without Harrison Smith by his side. Over the years, Flores has explained how Smith is basically a defensive coordinator on the field with total freedom to make calls when he identifies things within the offense. It won’t be easy to replace that, though Flores still seemed to be campaigning for a return.

“I still haven’t gotten over it,” Flores said. “He brought a lot to our team. We love him dearly. Hope he hears that.”

In terms of how it will be replaced, Flores thinks that the other players’ time with Smith will help them going forward.

“I think his impact on the other guys as far as leadership, communication, ownership of the defense…and the ability to, you know, change it based on what they see. I think we got a few other guys who learned that from him,” Flores said.

The obvious candidate to take over Harrison’s role is Josh Metellus, though it’s unclear how the positions will be distributed in terms of the box/big nickel/free safety situation.

Kyler Murray worked in the offseason to lock in KOC’s offense

During the spring, it was clear that Murray was still working through parts of O’Connell’s offense. He said that he spent the time between minicamp and training camp working to lock in all the details.

“Going over scripts, going over playbook for the last six weeks. and then obviously workouts and stuff, going out there and implementing what we’ve done and just trying to get more familiar with the verbiage and the footwork and all that stuff,” Murray said.

He did not want to get into details of his side workouts with players but Jordan Schultz tweeted a video of Murray and Jordan Addision and reported that they had spent the last two months throwing together.

Murray didn’t seem concerned about the preparation part.

“I truly believe that going through OTAs has prepared me for what’s to come,” Murray said.

“For me, I think it’s a reps thing. Continue to do it over and over again, say it over and over again, and the more you do it, the more you say it, the more it comes natural, the more it comes easier. I think that’s really the process for me. I think once all that settles down, for me, it’s just playing football.”

Murray’s balance of playmaking/pocket in camp

In the coming weeks, Murray will be aiming to show O’Connell and the offensive staff that he can operate within the system. For a quarterback with a tendency to scramble and make plays happen off script, that could take some restraint. But Murray didn’t seem concerned about striking the right balance of scrambling and playing on time.

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” Murray said. “I was going into my eighth season, so I know how it is. If a defensive guy would have made a play, you get to hooting and hollering about who would have done what, and everybody’s going back and forth. But I’m an honorable guy when it comes to making plays out here on the gridiron… when it is an opportunity for me to use my legs, do that.”

JJ McCarthy’s knowledge of the offense is making it ‘instinctual’

Last year McCarthy was coming into a situation where he had to master the offense on the field for the first time as QB1. This year he has had an entire offseason to process his performance last year and focus on areas where he needed to improve. McCarthy says that he will walk to the line of scrimmage now feeling locked into to what he’s supposed to be seeing.

“I feel at that point right now just being able to have every play call click in my head and just seeing it like full clear picture and knowing my job each and every down,” McCarthy said. “Knowing the intent of each and every play call, it makes it a lot easier to have those instinctive moments when things break down.”

McCarthy called it a “clarity of mind” to have mastered all of the formations, splits etc. that go into O’Connell’s offense and now he can see the defense better because he understands the game at a higher level than heading into camp in 2025.

“Everything seems to be slowing down on the defensive side and being familiar with defensive structures and philosophies,” McCarthy said.

In terms of the competition, the young QB talked about his discussions with O’Connell about what he needs to do.

“Conversations were great, just all about doing my job and doing it to the best of my ability, taking completions, taking what the defense has given me, making smart decisions,” McCarthy said. “At the end of the day, just doing my job. Very simple.

As far as whether it’s going to be a “fair” competition, McCarthy responded: “100% yes.”

Brian O’Neill has a new contract but the same mentality

Speaking with the media today about his new four-year, $96 million extension, the Vikings’ right tackle was asked what he’s most proud of during his time in Minnesota.

He paused and then gave an answer that shows you exactly why O’Neill is the type of player that he’s become.

“We’ve won one playoff game in eight years…we haven’t done it,” he said. “We did a little bit. That’s not why you do it, right? I want to be most proud of when I’m done here that we went on a couple runs and gave ourselves a chance at the big one and turned this thing around and got over that proverbial hump. Yeah, that’s what I want to be most proud of when I’m done for sure.”

Jake Golday’s preparation

O’Neill mentioned that the second-round linebacker was one of the guys who worked out with him in Minnesota over the summer.

After practice, Golday spoke with Purple Insider about getting ready for a very unique position in Flores’ defense in which he is beginning his journey as an inside linebacker but may have to pivot to a role out the outside as well.

“The 1st step to it is just breaking down the playbook,” Golday said. “And then I like to write out what everybody's job is on the field so that I know exactly where my spot is. Even if I go out there and they just throw me in a position I'm not that familiar with. I still know it because I've been studying everybody else's spots, and it's just process of elimination at that point.”

Once Golday learned everyone’s assignment, he would go out to the field in Eagan or at a high school in his hometown when he was home and start simulating the game action.

“I like to imagine, like, stuff's going on,” he said. “It’s cardio at the same time. I'm getting cardio dropping in my spot, getting back lined up, making sure that I'm yelling at communications and stuff.”

Eric Wilson said after practice that he’s been impressed with the way Golday has picked things up.

“He's doing a really good job, but he seems to have a good football IQ,” Wilson said. “Dude's very versatile, which is very helpful in our defense, for sure. Big guy, and it seems like he loves to put in that work. So I appreciate that. So he's just fitting in well.”

Everything I saw

Both quarterbacks had solid days.

Here’s how Murray performed in terms of where the football was thrown and whether throws were positive, negative or routine passes.

Some of the highlights of Murray’s day: