Murray signs with Vikings following Cards exit

EAGAN, Minn. -- Former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray signed a contract with the Minnesota Vikings, the team announced Thursday.

Murray will become part of a QB room in Minnesota that includes former No. 10 pick J.J. McCarthy.

The deal is for one season, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter. The Vikings will pay $1.3 million of the $36.8 million Murray had already been guaranteed via his contract with the Cardinals, who agreed March 3 to release him. The move was not official until Wednesday, but the Vikings decided weeks before that Murray would be near the top of their priority list in seeking competition for McCarthy.

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They were also interested in veteran quarterback Geno Smith, but the Las Vegas Raiders traded Smith to the New York Jets before he had a chance to reach free agency.

Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell has spoken extensively this offseason about McCarthy and the team's quarterback depth. O'Connell has never said he wanted to replace McCarthy, but he also hasn't said he wanted McCarthy to be his 2026 starter. Executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, who has been serving as interim general manager after the firing of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, made clear that the team wouldn't rule out any options in its quest for better quarterback play in 2026.

McCarthy has started only 10 games in two seasons since the Vikings made him the No. 10 pick of the 2024 draft. He has dealt with four separate injuries in his pro career, including a torn right meniscus that sidelined him for the 2024 season. His QBR of 35.6 last season ranked No. 24 of 26 NFL quarterbacks who started at least 10 games.

The Vikings allowed Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones to leave via free agency in 2025, setting up McCarthy to be their starter without much of a safety net. At the very least, they were determined not to make the same mistake in consecutive seasons.

Murray, 28, will either push McCarthy to quick and extensive improvement or will supplant him as the Vikings' Week 1 starter.

Murray's seven seasons in Arizona were full of highlight-worthy plays but ended with just one playoff appearance, a wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Rams in 2021.

Murray was a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback and is one of five players in NFL history (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton) to throw for more than 20,000 yards and run for more than 3,000 yards in their first seven seasons.

With Murray entering the NFL in 2019 as the Heisman Trophy winner and top draft pick while paired with former Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury, who ran an offense that Murray had experience running since eighth grade, expectations were high.

However, after not losing a game in high school and just three games in college between Texas A&M and Oklahoma, Murray could not return to those heights. He was 38-48-1 in Arizona, while injuries defined his last five years with the Cardinals.

After playing in all 16 games in 2019 and 2020, Murray missed three in 2021 and six in 2022 after tearing an ACL that December. He returned for the last eight games of 2023, played every game in 2024 and then played in just the first five games last season before suffering a foot injury that caused him to miss the rest of the season.

Murray has thrown for 121 touchdowns and 60 interceptions in seven seasons. He also has 32 rushing touchdowns.

ESPN's Josh Weinfuss contributed to this report.