Vikings night practice: Kevin O’Connell not ready to name starting QB
Vikings night practice: Kevin O'Connell not ready to make QB decision
The Minnesota Vikings are holding their annual night practice at training camp Sunday at TCO Stadium. Kevin O'Connell said before the workout Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy have split close to 300 reps, but he's not ready to make a decision on a starting quarterback.
EAGAN, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Vikings are holding their 10th practice of training camp on Sunday, and it’s the team’s annual night practice at TCO Stadium. It's also a practice in full pads.
Kevin O’Connell not ready to name starting QB
What we know:
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said before Sunday night’s practice in Eagan that the competition between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy for the starting quarterback job is ongoing. He said there have been about 300 plays over nine practices before Sunday night, and the two have gotten a pretty even split of the snaps.
So far, neither has done enough to be the clear leader to start at quarterback. Murray had the better practice on the first day with fans, but both have had good days and struggles.
"Nothing has really changed from a standpoint of the timeline, we’ll see how the reps continue to go and when we feel like we’re at that place, we’re going to make sure we communicate that internally and then to you guys," O’Connell said. "We only have so much time, so we want to make sure we’re comprehensive."
What we don't know:
We don't officially know who the starter will be, or when it will be made public.
Vikings injury updates
Why you should care:
The Vikings are about as healthy as an NFL team can be after more than a week of training camp. O’Connell said Christian Darrisaw and Caleb Banks are sitting out Sunday night’s practice. Both are getting planned rest days. Darrisaw is healthy after a knee injury two years ago, and Banks is healthy after coming off foot surgery.
Jordan Addison will also return to the practice field after missing some time with a thumb injury.
Changing the vibe
Dig deeper:
The Vikings do one practice every training camp inside TCO Stadium, and it’s in the evening. The team likes to change the vibe from practice fields to a more game-like feel, and the energy ramps up with fans closer to the action.
"Every year I feel like when I make the comment of even you guys that played high-level high school football in Texas in front of 20,000 people, you might feel it tonight. I feel a little bit of an eye roll, and then we’ll get out there and the energy will ramp up and there will be some juice in there," O’Connell said. "It’s important because we’re not too far off from joint practices, we want to handle our business the right way."
What's next:
The Vikings practice Tuesday-Thursday next week before opening the preseason at the New York Giants on Saturday, Aug. 15. It’s a noon kickoff on FOX 9.