Minnesota Vikings News and Links: Two Weeks To Go!

We are getting close! The rookies report in a little over two weeks.

I still am hoping the team signs Derek Barnett. He was solid last year as a rotational EDGE rusher, wont cost too much, and seems like a perfect fit. He has been praised as a really good teammate as well.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/eagles-waive-former-first-round-pick-derek-barnett/548007/ The Eagles on Friday released one-time 1st-round pick Derek Barnett, who had just 21 ½ sacks in 73 career games

and none in his last 15 games.

The team released the following statement: “The Eagles organization would like to thank Derek for his contributions to this team over the last seven seasons. As a rookie, Derek made one of the most memorable plays in our Super Bowl victory over the Patriots. He has been a great teammate who always played with high energy and effort. We wish Derek nothing but the best.”

https://www.houstontexans.com/news/unsung-hero-texans-react-to-derek-barnett-s-contributions-wild-card-round
As Derek Barnett walked past the training room, Will Anderson Jr. saw him and took his fist and beat on his chest.

For the rookie, Barnett is a warrior.

“He’s solid. He’ll just go out there and just wreck anything,” Anderson said. “He’s been a great addition to our room. Knows a lot about ball, he’s solid. When he steps on the field you know he’s out there man. He’s been a great fit for all of us.”

And his impact has been felt, producing 19 tackles, 11 quarterback hits and 2.5 sacks in just six games for the Texans entering Saturday’s playoff showdown.

“He’s truly the unsung hero,” Jonathan Greenard said. “He’s always been a baller, even going back to Tennessee in college. Then obviously being in Philly and having a bunch of success. I knew exactly what type of player he was, I knew what type of production he was going to have. No surprise here at all.”

Barnett has recorded five sacks, 26 tackles, four for losses and seven quarterback hits in 16 games and one start. He’s been a strong addition to the Texans since being claimed last season from the Eagles off waivers. He had 2 1/2 sacks in four starts and six games for the Texans last season and 29 career sacks, 49 tackles for losses, 94 quarterback hits and five forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries.
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He’s not into self-promotion.

“You just put the work in,” Barnett said. “Everybody is working here. So, it’s just trying to go about it the right way.”
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I don’t know but he seems like the kind of guy character wise that the team would want to add to the current culture.

The first training camp practice is 20 days away. Rookies report to training camp in 14 days.

Rookie Arrival: First-year players report to the TCO Performance Center in Eagan, Minnesota, on July 26.
Veteran Arrival: Returning players and full-squad activities begin two days later on July 28.

2026 Vikings Training Camp Full Schedule
https://www.vikings.com/schedule/vikings-events/training-camp/schedule

DATE : TIME : PRACTICE
Saturday, Aug. 1 : Noon- 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 3 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 4 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 5 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 7 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 8 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 9 : 5 – 11 p.m. : 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 11 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 12 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 13 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 17 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 19 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m. : Joint Practice with Baltimore Ravens
Thursday, Aug. 20 : Noon – 5 p.m. : 2:30 p.m. : Joint Practice with Baltimore Ravens

The Minnesota Vikings 2026 preseason schedule features three matchups
Week 1: Saturday, August 15 at New York Giants (1:00 PM ET)
Week 2: Saturday, August 22 vs. Baltimore Ravens (12:00 PM ET)
Week 3: Friday, August 28 at Denver Broncos (Time TBD)

Minnesota Vikings News and Links

NFL offseason power rankings: No. 19 Minnesota Vikings get Kyler Murray to bury J.J. McCarthy era
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nfl-offseason-power-rankings-no-19-minnesota-vikings-get-kyler-murray-to-bury-jj-mccarthy-era-144722588.html

Murray has played a lot of football. He has logged 87 career games. Terrell Davis had a Hall of Fame career and played just 78. And Murray has never truly broken out. His 92.2 career passer rating puts him in the middle of the pack of current NFL quarterbacks. The Cardinals made the playoffs one time with Murray and got blown out in their only postseason game.

This offseason, the woebegone Cardinals decided they’d rather have Jacoby Brissett as their quarterback and pay a dead cap hit of $54.7 million to simply be done with Murray. Does that sound like a savior? Murray has consistently shown that his level is average, and that’s over a sample size of seven NFL seasons.

The main benefit of adding Murray, outside of it costing almost nothing because the Cardinals were picking up so much of his 2026 salary, was that the Vikings could start someone other than J.J. McCarthy.

Pay little mind to offseason chatter that there’s a quarterback competition. If Murray doesn’t start the season at quarterback, it would be a surprise. McCarthy was so bad last season that the Vikings wanted a better option even though McCarthy has just 10 starts. There’s a scenario in which McCarthy, the 10th pick of the 2024 draft, has a great training camp and the Vikings can entertain starting the season with him at QB1. But that wasn’t the plan when they landed Murray, no matter how flawed Murray is as a player or whatever the team is saying about a competition.
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Offseason grade
The Vikings fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in late January, and then started to clean up some of the salary cap mess he created. Defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave were cut; both signed deals worth more than $10 million per season elsewhere. Minnesota traded edge rusher Jonathan Greenard to Philadelphia for a pair of third-round picks. The Eagles signed Greenard to a four-year, $100 million extension after the trade.

The Vikings lost three good linemen from their defensive front, which is evident from the salaries they commanded with other teams. A lot is now expected from edge rusher Dallas Turner, a 2024 first-round pick who did take strides with eight sacks last season. Minnesota also lost receiver Jalen Nailor, who the Raiders thought was worth more than $35 million over three years.

Minnesota didn’t do much in free agency, feeling the cap crunch. They did sign former 49ers receiver Jauan Jennings for $8 million over one year, and also cornerback James Pierre for $8.5 million over two years. No other outside free agent got more than $1.5 million, though Kyler Murray’s minimum $1.3 million deal is included in that.

The draft class, led by defensive lineman Caleb Banks and linebacker Jake Golday in the first and second rounds, was panned. Minnesota’s draft got the fourth-worst consensus grade, and two of the three teams behind them didn’t have a first-round pick.

Jennings was a good addition and Murray was a value, but the roster overall took some hits.

Grade: D+
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Although the Vikings’ plan is clearly to start Kyler Murray, we can’t rule out the possibility of J.J. McCarthy making it a true competition or perhaps even winning the job by opening day. While McCarthy’s first year starting wasn’t good, 10 games is not enough to judge a quarterback. And it was less than 2 ½ years ago that the Vikings thought enough of McCarthy’s talent to trade up and take him 10th overall.

It would be very rare if McCarthy doesn’t get another shot, in Minnesota or elsewhere. Among top 10 draft picks at quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, only five got fewer than 10 career starts (Trey Lance, Art Schlichter, Andre Ware, Clint Longley, Rich Campbell).
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Odds breakdown
From Yahoo’s Ben Fawkes: “It was a disastrous 2025 season for Minnesota, as the Vikings effectively chose quarterback J.J. McCarthy over Sam Darnold — only to see Darnold win a Super Bowl with the Seahawks and McCarthy struggle immensely. The Vikings did win five straight games (against mostly bad competition) to close the season and somehow finish 9-8.

“With a win total of 8.5, the worst odds (+525) of any team to win the NFC North and a big underdog to make the playoffs (+170), oddsmakers aren’t expecting much from the Vikings. If free agent QB (and presumed starter) Kyler Murray gives Minnesota even league-average QB play, Minnesota could be a team that surprises. The Vikings are favored in only eight games, but their biggest spread in any game is +4.5.”
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Stat to remember
This is all you need to know about the 2025 Vikings: They finished 28th in EPA per play on offense and third on EPA allowed per play on defense. The only other teams close to being that lopsided were the Cowboys, who had a terrible defense, and the Browns, who were even worse than Minnesota on offense.

If there’s one game that summed up last season’s Vikings, it came in Week 17 against the Lions. Vikings won 23-10 with just 3 net passing yards as Max Brosmer started at quarterback. That was the second fewest net passing yards from any winning team in 43 seasons (the Texans won with -5 passing yards in a 2006 win over the Raiders), according to Josh Dubow of Associated Press. The Vikings usually had to overcome a rough offense, and more times than not last season they did win.

Brian Flores has proven he’s among the best defensive coordinators in the NFL, if not the best. Minnesota was once again the most blitz-heavy team in the NFL. Their blitz rate was 48% and no other team reached 34%, according to Sharp Football Analysis. With the Vikings losing a ton off the defensive line, expect Minnesota to again lead the NFL in blitzes. It’s a style that suits them well.
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Best-case scenario
The Vikings can aspire to follow the path of the 2025 Colts. The 2024 Colts, with inexperienced and inefficient second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr., finished 31st in passer rating but managed an 8-9 record. They signed castoff Daniel Jones, who beat out Richardson at quarterback, and the offense took off during an 8-2 start to the season (an injury to Jones derailed that start).

The Vikings went 9-8 last season with miserable quarterback play. Kyler Murray isn’t perfect but he will be an upgrade over the mess the Vikings had at QB last season. And given Kevin O’Connell’s history with quarterbacks, maybe Murray will have a career year.
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Nightmare scenario
Just because quarterbacks like Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith had career revivals after they had been given up on doesn’t make it a likely outcome for anyone else. Kyler Murray will be 29 this season, and the annual predictions of his breakout season have always been wrong in the past. Murray can’t be as bad as the Vikings’ quarterbacks were last season, but he might not be very good either, and Minnesota’s roster around QB was downgraded.

The Vikings are the favorites to finish last in a tough NFC North. They haven’t thrown in the towel on the 10th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, but it’s close. If Murray, on a one-year deal, can’t lift Minnesota out of last place then what’s the Vikings’ next move?

The crystal ball says
The Vikings have a reasonable floor and a pretty high ceiling, too. But the optimism about Kyler Murray is rooted more in blind faith and trust in Kevin O’Connell’s coaching than anything tangible on Murray’s NFL résumé. There is a chance that a team that won nine games with awful quarterback play last season gets to double-digit wins with below-average quarterback play.

Perhaps Murray finally does have his breakout with a better franchise and a good coach, and then the Vikings really bounce back to their 2024 level. But the roster around the quarterback isn’t better than last season, and the Vikings are the most reasonable pick to finish last in the NFC North. We’ll pick Minnesota to finish in last — though it’s likely they’ll be the best of all the NFL’s last-place teams, if that’s any consolation.

Vikings’ QB battle: Kevin O’Connell looking for either Kyler Murray or J.J. McCarthy to set ‘standard’
https://www.nfl.com/news/vikings-qb-battle-kevin-oconnell-standard-kyler-murray-jj-mccarthy

Training camp is mere weeks away, meaning the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback battle between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy is due to resume soon.

Just don’t make it sound unique when discussing the matter with coach Kevin O’Connell.

“I’m not really familiar with a closed competition,” O’Connell said during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show when asked about the open competition between Murray and McCarthy. “I’ve heard that everyone’s fascinated with that aspect of it, but here’s what I would say. … Really the goal going into this offseason was to elevate the quarterback position because when we have a certain standard of play that we feel like we have multiple guys in that room that we feel are capable of reaching that standard, the Minnesota Vikings win football games. The best way to achieve that is having a daily attempt to have guys push each other and not just always need the outside noise or not always need what the narratives may be.

“Let’s roll the ball out there, and let’s try to help the Minnesota Vikings get better.”

O’Connell’s response falls directly into the competition breeds excellence camp, also commonly known as the iron sharpens iron faction, but it’s a necessary approach for a Vikings team that was good enough to win nine games last season despite lacking any semblance of stability under center. That reality motivated Minnesota to act quickly in engaging and signing Murray.

Beyond that point, however, the narrative diverges. O’Connell and Co. will understandably spin the addition of Murray as encouraging competition. He made the same case again in the aforementioned response. But those who understand where McCarthy is in his development and who Murray is as a quarterback will lean toward Murray winning the job, an outcome that likely wouldn’t upset O’Connell.

Some believe Murray already owns the starting job.

Even if true, O’Connell isn’t going to admit as much, not in early July with an entire camp and preseason ahead for his team. Instead, he decided to deliver a detailed breakdown of the entire quarterback room, because few approaches fill time better than a filibuster.

“Kyler has come in and done a great job,” O’Connell said. “J.J., I think, has benefit[ed] from it; he’s had a really good spring. Carson Wentz is this veteran quarterback in the room. As a guy who’s played seven or eight quarterbacks in four years, the two years we had our starter play the whole season, we won 13 and 14 games. So we want to try to get back to the standard of having the quarterback position be a driving force behind us winning by doing their job, by hopefully activating the great players they get to play with.

“We’ve got a great defense. (Defensive coordinator) Brian Flores has done an unbelievable job. If we can limit giving the football away and generate some explosives and get our run game going — although no one’s really talking about that, that has been a major emphasis of this offseason, both from a coaching staff standpoint and a player development and offensive development standpoint.

“I’m excited about where we’re at, but we won’t really know until we go calcifying, forging our team together. We’re gonna compete in the NFC North. It’s a very, very competitive division.”

J.J. McCarthy Gets Brutal Statement Amid Vikings QB Battle
https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/minnesota-vikings/jj-mccarthy-brutal-statement-qb-battle/

he Minnesota Vikings have a QB competition on their hands between J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray to determine the starter. After a challenging 2025 season due to their QB play, the Vikings want to ensure that this position doesn’t keep them from missing the playoffs this upcoming campaign.

Both players are in this competition with something to prove as McCarthy wants to show that he’s indeed the Vikings’ franchise signal-caller. Meanwhile, Murray is looking to prove that he’s still a starter in the NFL after the Arizona Cardinals cut ties with him this offseason.

Even though this storyline will dominate training camp, FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd doesn’t believe it’s an actual QB competition.

“They don’t want J.J. McCarthy to be a bust, but he’s a miss,” Cowherd said during the July 10 edition of “The Herd.” “That doesn’t mean he can’t go somewhere else and succeed. Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold went elsewhere and found success, but the difference is the Vikings are a well-run organization with a great coach and a great defensive coordinator, and it’s not working…

“Kyler Murray is going to work here. He’s not going to work as well as Sam Darnold because he’s not as good as Sam Darnold, but Kyler Murray is going to win the job because he’s going to own the locker room. The players think he’s more talented.“

Colin Cowherd: J.J. McCarthy Can Find Success Elsewhere
Moreover, Cowherd believes that because it hasn’t worked out in Minnesota, that doesn’t mean McCarthy can’t leave and find success elsewhere. In recent years, there have been a few QBs that have found new life elsewhere after being a first-round pick, including Sam Darnold, Mac Jones, or Baker Mayfield.

“J.J. McCarthy may flourish elsewhere, but when you go to a solid organization, and it doesn’t work after two or three years, it’s not going to work. This is not the Jets… Eventually, even if you have a rocky start, you find your way in this league pretty quickly.

“And I think with J.J. McCarthy, I’m not rooting against him. I think he could find another organization, maybe like Arizona someday, but it’s not working because Minnesota is well run. Competition at quarterback in the NFL is nonsense. Nobody buys into that.”

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Vikings Get Surprising Quarterback Proposal Out of Nowhere
https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/minnesota-vikings/surprising-quarterback-proposal-out-of-nowhere/

As of right now, the overwhelming expectation is that Kyler Murray will end up being the Week 1 starter. However, Murray will face competition from both J.J. McCarthy and Carson Wentz.

Murray and McCarthy are the clear front-runners to be the starter. Whoever ends up losing the battle could end up being a trade candidate, with Wentz serving as the backup.
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Anthony Palacios of Last Word on Sports has suggested that Minnesota could be a potential landing spot for currently retired quarterback Derek Carr if he chooses to return to the NFL.

“In the latest reports, new free agent QB acquisition Kyler Murray could request a trade from the Minnesota Vikings if he loses the battle against JJ McCarthy for the starting role,” Palacios wrote. “Murray is entering a pivotal point in his career, having one last chance to earn a new long-term deal. If he remains a backup, he probably won’t accept the fate. If that’s the case, expect the Vikings to have Carr on speed dial if McCarthy can’t stay healthy.”

Vikings Pitched $100 Million Pro Bowler as Murray, McCarthy Replacement
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/vikings-pitched-100-million-pro-213755938.html

However, there are a number of feasible scenarios in which Kyler Murray is not back with the franchise next season and/or JJ McCarthy has either departed Minnesota or is not in line to start in 2027 and beyond.

Murray and McCarthy are currently battling it out for the QB1 role, a fight that head coach Kevin O’Connell has indicated will stretch into training camp and possibly through multiple preseason games. But regardless of who wins and starts the season, or who ends up finishing it, the Vikings may well be looking for a new option by the time next offseason arrives.

With that hypothetical, yet reasonably possible, outcome as context, radio broadcaster Zach Gelb pitched the Vikings as a potential landing spot for two-time Pro Bowler Baker Mayfield (2023, 2024). Gelb’s suggestion piggybacked off a social media post from Pro Football Talk regarding Mayfield entering the final year of his $100 million contract in Tampa Bay this season without an extension.

“The Bucs seem to believe they’ll [offer] Baker Mayfield more than any other team would,” PFT posted to X Thursday, July 9. “This overlooks the possibility that Mayfield would take less from another team in March, just to make a point.”

“He should try and go to Minnesota or Pittsburgh this offseason,” Gelb wrote of Mayfield in his repost.
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Mayfield will play the upcoming campaign at 31 years old and become an unrestricted free agent in March of 2027, assuming the Bucs don’t extend him before then.

Spotrac projects his market value at $214 million over a new four-year deal, or approximately $53.6 million annually.

That precise salary would make Mayfield the eighth-highest paid quarterback in the NFL based on annual average salary, just ahead of Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions and Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers, both of whom make $53 million per year.

PFF’s All-PFF Team Honors Vikings Legends Adrian Peterson, Harrison Smith
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/pffs-pff-team-honors-vikings-112430618.html

Two of the greatest players in Minnesota Vikings history have earned recognition among the NFL’s elite after Pro Football Focus unveiled its All-PFF Team, ranking the best players at every position over the past 20 seasons.

Legendary running back Adrian Peterson was named the second-team running back, while longtime Vikings safety Harrison Smith earned first-team honors as one of the two top safeties of the PFF era.

Peterson was named PFF’s second-team running back, finishing behind only Derrick Henry after a remarkably close race.

According to PFF, Peterson’s résumé helped make him one of the premier running backs of the past two decades. The deciding factors ultimately came down to efficiency metrics, with Henry posting more yards after contact per carry with 3.6 to Peterson’s 3.0, a higher avoided tackle rate, a better first-down rate and fewer fumbles. However, Peterson averaged more yards before contact per carry (1.6), showing the blocking he’s had in front of him during his career.
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While Peterson narrowly missed first-team honors, Harrison Smith was selected as one of PFF’s first-team safeties.

PFF pointed to Smith’s remarkable consistency over his career, noting that he is one of only five safeties during the PFF era to play more than 12,000 snaps while earning an overall grade above 90.0. He also posted grades above 92.0 in both run defense and coverage, showcasing the complete skill set that defined his career.

Smith’s versatility ultimately helped separate him from his peers. PFF highlighted his effectiveness as a blitzer, as well as his impact in coverage and against the run, which is why he developed a reputation as one of football’s most complete safeties during his 14 seasons with the Vikings.

Has Kevin O’Connell Become the Face of the Vikings (And Is That A Good Thing)?
https://zonecoverage.com/2026/minnesota-vikings-news/has-kevin-oconnell-become-the-face-of-the-vikings-and-is-that-a-good-thing/

Vikings clearly choosing Kyler Murray over J.J. McCarthy still has one big problem
https://fansided.com/nfl/vikings-clearly-choosing-kyler-murray-over-j-j-mccarthy-still-has-one-big-problem

Predicting Every Vikings Defensive Starter before Training Camp
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/predicting-every-vikings-defensive-starter-130600033.html

A Vikings Analyst Shares His Opinion On Justin Jefferson As A Viking Moving Forward
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/vikings-analyst-shares-opinion-justin-010500816.html

Vikings Myths and Misses: 30-Year-Old Breakout Player, QB Instability, ESPN Shade
https://vikingsterritory.com/2026/news/top_news/vikings-myths-misses-qb-competition-espn-ranking

Terrion Arnold update confirms what Vikings fans hoped was true
https://thevikingage.com/terrion-arnold-update-confirms-minnesota-vikings-fans-hoped-true

These 4 Vikings Could Be Traded before Week 1
https://vikingsterritory.com/2026/news/top_news/vikings-trade-candidates-before-week-1

The Vikings Have $13M to Spend — Here Are 3 Options
https://vikingsterritory.com/2026/news/top_news/vikings-cap-space-free-agent-options

Vikings land new QB in latest 2027 NFL Mock Draft
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/vikings-land-qb-latest-2027-182433484.html

This week, SI’s Justin Melo had Minnesota take Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr with the 13th overall pick in his 2027 mock draft. Melo points out that new general manager Nolan Teasley isn’t invested in McCarthy and Murray, making it easier to move on from them.

The Minnesota Vikings are getting closer to admitting defeat on J.J. McCarthy after adding Kyler Murray this offseason. If the quarterback spot doesn’t sort itself out in 2026, they could be right back in the market for one. New general manager Nolan Teasley is inheriting both McCarthy and Murray. Notre Dame’s CJ Carr is a natural thrower with good baseline traits to take another developmental step as a second-year starter in 2026.

The Vikings were more than bearded marauders, but Scandinavia’s national museums continue to project that image
https://phys.org/news/2026-07-vikings-bearded-marauders-scandinavia-national.html

During the 1800s, when national projects were popular, the Viking Age became a key part of the construction of national identity in Scandinavia. Since then, the Vikings have become such well-known symbols that they are now recognized around the world. In the popular imagination, a Viking is a tall, broad-shouldered man who wields a sword and might have a modern haircut like a skin fade or lots of tattoos. However, this picture is mostly a made-up one.

Experts at Scandinavian national museums know that Vikings were a diverse group, far from the all-male warrior myth. Yet the image of the male Viking warrior stubbornly lingers, drawing crowds while also haunting the galleries like a restless specter.

Across three of the exhibitions, the male Viking emerges as a warrior, a seafarer and a merchant. He is also repeatedly depicted as a farmer, his days spent working the land. The agricultural portrayals add depth, but the curation of the exhibitions tends to foreground the more popular image rather than this more complex one.

Note: The real Vikings Warriors sit behind keyboards! amirite?