Vikings may have wild Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz plan in mind

While the Minnesota Vikings recently brought journeyman quarterback Carson Wentz back to the organization, most outsiders assume that head coach Kevin O’Connell will start either free-agency signing Kyler Murray or 2024 first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy come September. 

While speaking with reporters on Monday, O’Connell suggested that all three could have an opportunity to win the Week 1 starting gig this summer. 

Vikings' Kevin O’Connell will "see" what QB competition will look like

"Knowing that we feel comfortable and confident about the depth of our quarterback room, we want to prepare all of those guys to be able to take snaps and contribute to winning when called upon," O’Connell explained, per Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk. "What that looks like, we’ll see."

Kevin Seifert of ESPN is among the Vikings reporters who have said that "Murray is the strong favorite to win the job" after he was able to sign a team-friendly contract to join the club because he was owed $38M in fully guaranteed money for next season by the Arizona Cardinals. While the perception exists that O'Connell wanted to find an upgrade at the sport's most important position, the Vikings allegedly "are not ready to give up on" McCarthy.

"I just think it’s about depth," O'Connell said about the team's current quarterback situation. "It’s about the fact that, without too much of a rearview-mirror-looking backward, you see where the final standings were; where we were at 9-8 and ultimately maybe the one or two or three plays or sequences of games where you find your way into the dance, and that’s really all you ever want at the beginning of every year is to punch your ticket to compete in that one game to continue moving on."

Kevin O’Connell knows Vikings may need more than one QB1

Both Murray and Wentz have worrisome injury histories, and Murray made just five starts during what became his final season with the Cardinals before he was shut down due to a foot issue. As for McCarthy, physical setbacks limited him to just 10 regular-season starts over his first two pro campaigns. 

"We’ve played three guys in one year," O'Connell added about the Vikings' history of needing multiple starting quarterbacks in a season. "We’ve played four in another. We just feel like having the ability to get quality quarterback play throughout the circumstances we do not control throughout the season gives our team pretty historic data that says if we get quarterback play to a certain line, we win a lot of football games. So we wanted to ensure we are able to do that, but also make it a very, very competitive room, and that’s regardless of who’s taking reps with what group. We want the quarterback position to elevate our team, and with the talent we have around that position, we feel pretty good about it also working vice versa, the other way around."

It remains to be seen how many first-team reps Wentz will receive during training camp and the preseason, but it sounds like he may be part of a three-way competition through at least a portion of August.