Training camp recap, Day 7
Kyler Murray may have surged ahead in the QB competition and owner Mark Wilf talked
By Matthew Coller
The Minnesota Vikings held their seventh practice of the summer, which turned out to be their longest and most eventuful thus far. Let’s dive into it…
What I heard
Jordan Addison banged up
Kevin O’Connell wasn’t scheduled to talk on Wednesday but he popped up to the podium to give an update on Jordan Addison.
He announced that Addison will not be paticipating in practice because he had a thumb injury.
KOC said:
“He had a little thumb that just kind of jammed it in routes on air the other day, normal kind of thing. We had it checked out, all imaging and everything came back clean. It’s just a little sore, and we want to be able to let him put this thing behind him in the next day or two, but nothing to be concerned about, but just didn’t want to not. share that with you guys and then be wondering because I don’t not sure exactly when the next time I officially talk to you will be.”
Of course, any early injury should be treated with caution but Addison’s presence is important in the quarterback competition. This could be an opportunity for Tai Felton or Jeshaun Jones to step up.
Mark Wilf is happy with Kevin O’Connell but ‘patience isn’t infinite’
With Kevin O’Connell going into Year 5, the pressure is naturally amped up without a playoff win to his name yet.
On Wednesday, Wilf gave a strong vote of confidence to O’Connell, praising his work this offseason amidst a GM change.
“We’re thrilled with coach O’Connell and everything he’s brought, and most importantly, the culture he’s brought here,” Wilf said. “But I think also... great improvements in the coaching staff this year…I know Kevin, in the midst of a GM process and all the rest going on in a challenging offseason, I think we really enhanced not just the coaching staff, but what they bring in terms of scheme. teaching, and getting our players to maximize their potential.”
The Wilfs have not historically tolerated many years of missing the postseason, They moved on from Mike Zimmer after two missed postseasons in a row and let go of both Les Frazier and Brad Childress after one year without the playoffs.
Will they evaluate O’Connell’s position on getting back to the postseason?
“We evaluate everything in the totality, and like I said, where coach O’Connell has brought this entire building and this team to now, we’re extremely pleased, and we look forward to great things from coach.”
The Wilfs are aware that it has been 20 years with only three playoff wins but they want to be methodical about decision making rather than reactionary.
“We try to be patient as an ownership, and that we know is the ultimate success,” Wilf said. “Of course, patience isn’t infinite. We understand that. But I feel really good about the direction of this football club.”
Wilf likes the early returns or Nolan Teasley and front-office building process
In the early days of Nolan Teasley’s tenure, he brought in new leaders for the front office, including assistant GMs Trent Kirchner and Andrew Healy. Wilf said that during the hiring process, it was important to ownership who the candidates wanted to bring in as top assistants.
“It was a big part of the interview process, frankly, and pretty much what Nolan wanted to get done, we’re very pleased that he got done,” Wilf said. “Getting the type of talent that he brought in, we had them targeted in the interview process, and you don’t always know if it’s going to work out that way. It’s really great.”
Teasley hasn’t made significant roster moves yet aside from signing Brian O’Neill to an extension but in terms of the fit within the building, Wilf is happy with what he’s seeing thus far.
“It’s been outstanding, just everything we saw in the interview process has completely continued and flourished here,” Wilf said. “So we feel really good about it. Have personally a great relationship between our ownership with Nolan, of course, seeing coach and Nolan [work together]….We’ve had a lot of good parts here. To enhance that, what Nolan and who he’s brought in, all of it together, has just worked seamlessly. I’m really excited about the future.”
Wilfs will not be going the private equity route
The NFL approved franchises being able to sell ownership stake to private equity. Wilf said that their ownership does not have interest in doing so.
“It’s clearly something the league has allowed and some teams have gone that direction, but that’s not something that is really something that our family’s focused on,” he said. “Again, we’re proud of our ownership stewardship, our ownership group as a whole, and we want to keep it that way.”
Wilf on O’Connell’s role with QBs and the competition
The owners of the Vikings have always been very dialed into the roster and that’s certainly the case when it comes to decisions at the most important position.
Wilf was asked how much he’s leaving the direction of the quarterback up to O’Connell.
“A lot of license, but it’s not just Kevin, it’s along with our personnel and Nolan as well now coming into that mix,” Wilf said. “So like every other position, it’s being evaluated daily and especially during training camp when we see them performing like they will this afternoon and every single day.”
Wes Phillips sees what Vikings hoped for in Gavin Bartholomew
It’s just been fun to watch Gavin play football. We saw so little of him last year before the back, and we had some excitement for what he could be coming out of college. We saw some explosiveness. We saw some athleticism, and then you saw a physical nature in the run game where most guys, if they’re explosive and they’re willing, then they can get it done in the run game, whether that’s at the true Y spot or more of the F tight end. He’s shown a lot of toughness. He’s made some catches out there thus far. Really, for him, it’s just like a lot of young guys, it’s the details play in and play out that’s going to be the difference.
Kyler under center
One of the questions with Murray joining the Vikings was how he might adapt to an offense that asks him to get under center more often. In 2024, 22% of his passes were under center, which wasn’t wildly far off Sam Darnold in ‘24 but he has traditionally been a shotgun QB for his college and NFL career.
Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips talked about Murray’s background and playing in the pistol may give them a chance to be more unpredictable.
“We have been mixing in some guns, some pistol,” Phillips said. “Certain defenses, they have gun checks, under checks. Does pistol put them into their gun check or do they treat that as under? Just present some different looks and different angles for the defense as long as we can master it. But it’s been fun. It’s been fun to change up a little bit. Some under, some gun, some different ways of running the football from under, from gun. It’s been a lot of fun this camp.”
Jeshaun Jones has been standing out in camp
Yes, this is Year 3 of Jeshaun Jones standing out. He joined the Vikings in 2024 and has put together strong camps each season before ultimately ending up on the practice squad. That may be the case again but there could also be room in the wide receiver room for a player who knows the offense and has good hands.
Phillips talked on Wednesday about how Jones has come along over the last two seasons and how it’s showing now.
“I think is a guy that we’re going to be able to trust to play all three spots in 11 personnel,” he said. “He’s really, really come a long way there. Early on we weren’t sure, ‘hey, he’s just a Z right now and then it was like, oh he can play some X too and now i think he’s got the F spot down as well.’ Guys like that who you can trust, that can go in at any of those spots [are valuable].”
Phillips also mentioned that Jones’ strength has been notable too because he can play through contact.
Hockenson understands Darrisaw’s ACL recovery timeline
TJ Hockenson and Christian Darrisaw have something in common: Both of them had ACL injuries that had challenging rehabs. Hockenson talked about Darrisaw getting back to full health in this camp.
“I understand the aches when you’re coming back and just not trusting stuff,” Hockenson said. “To really feel the explosion and everything was the next offseason. Last year, I felt explosive.”
Hockenson can benefit most from Darrisaw coming back because he was used last year to chip and help on the edge when CD was out.
What I saw
The Vikings were back in pads for their longest and most intense practice of the year.
Here’s how both QBs performed:
Out of the 24 throws that Kyler Murray had, 15 of them came with the first team including a key section in the middle of practice vs. the first-team defense and the situational drill.
Here’s where his passes went:
Murray highlights:
— Opened practice with a deep shot completion that traveled about 35 yards in the air and landed right in Jauan Jennings’ hands for a touchdown
— Hit Tai Felton on the money on another deep pass
— Finished the situational drill with a jump ball for Justin Jefferson and he Mossed it
— Used his feet effectively to evade pressure and scrambled during the situational drill for a first down on third down.
Murray lowlights:
— Had a routine slant route thrown inaccurately
— Missed an underneath easy pass over the middle to Josh Oliver
Overall:
The reps and the performance tell the story. Murray isn’t just a little ahead anymore, he’s surging quite a bit ahead of JJ McCarthy. Getting the vast majority with the first-team during the most important early practice of the year matters a lot. He has also now completed a large number of downfield passes, particularly to Justin Jefferson, that have to have Kevin O’Connell excited. He is operating the offense fairly efficiently on underneath passes. There doesn’t seem to be any signs of Murray struggling to pick up the offense.
Here are McCarthy’s throws:
McCarthy highlights:
— Hit a long throw along the sidelines during 7-on-7 into a tight window for a big gain
— Used quick throws to pick up enough yards to “score” during the situational drill
McCarthy lowlights:
— We should call them “slowlights.” There were a number of throws where the ball came out late, including one that got batted where he was trying to target Justin Jefferson and another that was behind a wide open receiver over the middle.
Overall:
Until O’Connell names Murray the starting quarterback and as long as McCarthy is getting the same raw number of passes, we can still call it a quarterback competition but the results are starting to become pretty telling. The Day 3 and Day 7 practices have been the most intense and each day the reps have gone heavily in the direction of Murray and the more reps Kyler has seen the better he’s played.
McCarthy’s confidence also doesn’t seem to be there. He’s rarely working the ball downfield and the ball isn’t coming out of his hands like it has in practices last year or in 2024.
Additional observations:
— There was a lot of mixing and matching along the front seven and the players who got reps were all younger guys. Jake Golday had some reps at OLB and ILB with the 1s. Also we saw a lot of DT Elijah Williams, who seemed to have a strong practice. At the end during situationals, Tyler Batty and Bo Richter were with the first team. Caleb Banks and Domonique Orange didn’t take a lot of reps but they were in there as well.
— The interior D-line seems to be off to a strong start with Levi Drake Rodriguez looking like a strong candidate to be the nose tackle to begin the season. Jalen Redmond is also standing out.
— Chuck Demmings had another PBU. He’s made a play nearly every practice. He was with the 2s today as Isaiah Rodgers and Byron Murphy Jr. were in.
— Jamal Adams blew up a run play with some impressive instincts and quickness.
— Dallas Turner blew up a pass with a quick rush to the QB that would have been a sack.
— The running game looked stronger than Day 1 in pads, highlighted by a high red zone TD from Jordan Mason.