Kyler Murray
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Kyler Murray's throwing mechanic has come under fire.
The Minnesota Vikings added quarterback Kyler Murray this offseason to come in and compete for the starting job. Despite finishing a respectable 9-8 last season, poor quarterback play, including from J.J. McCarthy, forced Minnesota to search out other options in the desert.
One of the major reasons that McCarthy struggled so much in 2025, was due to his poor mechanics, specifically the leg whip after a throw. After completing just 57.6 percent of his passes, McCarthy was challenged by his head coach Kevin O’Connell to fix up some of those bad habits.
“I think something Vikings fans can look for is when he gets to the top of his drops, we’re really trying to see if we can get him to be in a little more of a repeatable body position,” said O’Connell last season on the X’s and O’s Podcast. “What I mean by that is the posture of a firm, but athletic kind of lower half. We don’t really like when his feet get too far outside the framework of his body. And that happened a couple times the other day that contributed to maybe some of the accuracy.”
Ironically though, it’s now Murray who has fans up in arms about his throwing mechanics after posting a video of himself training this spring.
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#Vikings QB Kyler Murray with some offseason work in purple 🔥
🎥: @K1
Kyler Murray Has Fans Up in Arms Over Latest Practice Clip
Murray’s leg whip in the video is the very same mechanic that fans and coaches had knocked McCarthy for, and has now prompted some tongue-in-cheek comments on the video about the former Arizona Cardinal.
It was one throw out of probably 100 or more Murray did that day, and hardly an indictment on his abilities. But fans were still quick to point out that it’s the exact motion that McCarthy has been criticized over.
McCarthy has reportedly been working hard this offseason on his mechanics though, hoping to maintain his spot as the starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings.
Who Has the Edge in Minnesota’s Quarterback Battle?
The quarterback battle may be favoring Murray, however, and many pundits think it’s his job to lose. Murray is a very different type of passer, and it appears that Minnesota has already begun to tailor their offense to fit his skillset. Working more out of the shotgun, and quick sets are Murray’s game, not typically McCarthy’s or O’Connell’s, but the head coach has already talked about utilizing those types of things in 2026.
“The play-action game can be done a lot of different ways – offset, gun, pistol, and under center,” O’Connell said at the Annual League Meeting. “He’s (Murray) pretty dynamic in the keeper game, the movement game obviously, with his natural athleticism. I see a lot of ways that we’ll be able to continue the evolution and evolve our offense here in Year 5.”
So while the Vikings won’t name a starter any time soon, it’s apparent that Minnesota will be giving Murray some preferential treatment. Still, if McCarthy has shown that he’s much improved from his disappointing first year as a starter, the Vikings may have no choice but to roll with their former first-round draft pick.