Kyler Murray Gets Hyped Up By Kevin O’Connell

The Minnesota Vikings are only four days away from the beginning of the Kyler Murray era, which starts on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium when they host the Green Bay Packers.

Kyler Murray has a pretty high ceiling; he’s an absolutely elite athlete with the upside to be a top-ten QB in this league. He’s shown that in the past, particularly in the 2020 season. Murray and the Arizona Cardinals started off the season red-hot, and he was in discussions for the MVP award. Late-season injuries and general regression brought those hopes to an end, and the Cardinals’ season went up in smoke.

However, there’s no denying that the current supporting cast in Minnesota is, without a doubt, the best one he’s ever had in his career. He’s got one of the best receiver duos in the NFL, and one of the best offensive minds in the league in Kevin O’Connell. The head coach shared some insight into his excitement for Kyler Murray in the Vikings offense in 2026.

Kevin O’Connell Spreads the Good Word About Kyler Murray

Kevin O’Connell appeared on KFAN recently, having a sit-down chat with the voice of the Vikings, Paul Allen. Allen introduced the topic of Kyler Murray into the conversation, and O’Connell ran with it.

” I think the one thing about Kyler is, he’s really done a nice job finding completions,” O’Connell began as he reflected on Kyler Murray’s first offseason with the team. He would then touch on how the offense was moving in joint practices against Jesse Minter and the Baltimore Ravens: “There were clips of practice where he would go six, seven, eight, you know, attempts in a row just putting the ball in play, and we’re moving the football. It’s held up against our defense well.”

O’Connell went on to name some of Murray’s strengths as a passer: “He’s got the ability with a lot of different kinds of throws in his arsenal to attack different areas of the field. You know, generating explosives does not necessarily entail throwing the ball 50 yards down the field. In fact, when we’re at our best, it’s that intermediate range, and we force people to defend that area of the field, and then the shots down the field come.”

“But you’ve got to be okay checking the ball down. You’ve got to be okay finding a, you know? Aaron Jones or Jordan Mason underneath for a gain of eight, and just staying ahead of schedule allows us to then be what we want to be and truly be a team that can run the football and set up some of those looks where we make it easier on Kyler.”

O’Connell Hints at 2026 Offensive Gameplans

Kevin O’Connell added an interesting nugget when reminiscing about watching Kyler Murray’s tape while he was still the Arizona Cardinals’ QB1, mentioning Murray’s time there and how he was predominantly a “dropback pass” kind of QB.

“There’s still going to be an element to, you never want to take that away from a player, but you don’t want to have to live in that space and live in that world for 17-plus games. And there’s going to be some times we need them to do it. There’s going to be some weighty downs, some third downs where people are going to decide, ‘hey, we’re going to try to double team Jefferson and Addison, and we’re going to try to make this a hard snap, a hard down for Kyler.'”

“But they better account for him if they’re going to be playing a lot of the traditional coverages that we get that try to make life difficult for 18 and 3, because if you don’t account for him, it’s well documented: He can not only get out and get a first down, but he can totally flip the field in one play.”

It sounds like Kevin O’Connell might actually be adapting the offense a bit for Kyler Murray, which is interesting, because many fans criticize O’Connell’s willingness to adapt. Even though Murray can be very good as a pure passer, it only helps the team to have some complementary football being executed on the football field.