Rex Ryan didn’t wait long to stir the pot on Sunday morning, and Kyler Murray’s first start for the Vikings suddenly came with a baseball twist attached.
On ESPN, Ryan pointed to Minnesota’s quarterback situation from last season and argued the position had been so rough that Justin Jefferson was forced to do the heavy lifting on his own.
“Justin Jefferson, say what you want. Justin couldn’t throw it and catch it himself,” Ryan said.
“They were so bad at that position. And now you bring in Kyler Murray, who we all know is a super talent.”
Ryan didn’t stop there. He tied Murray back to the sport that once had him as a first-round pick.
“It better work for you, Kyler, because if not, go play baseball where you were drafted, because you’re not going to have a better receiving corps than you have with a better head coach than Kevin O’Connell,” Ryan continued. “So I think it’s going to work. I think it’s going to be a marriage that’s going to be terrific.”
Murray’s baseball path is part of the story whether he likes it or not. The Athletics took him ninth overall in the 2018 MLB draft and signed him for $4.66 million.
He played outfield at Oklahoma and hit .296 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI in 51 games that spring. Then, on Feb.
11, 2019, Murray announced he was headed to the NFL instead, and Arizona selected him first overall two months later. Oakland kept his baseball rights.
Now Murray is trying to reset in Minnesota on a one-year deal. The Cardinals released him in March and still owe him $36.8 million this season from the contract they cut. The Vikings brought him in for the veteran minimum of $1.3 million.
This opener also marks a long-awaited return to live action. Murray has not played since his last start on Oct. 5, 2025 against Tennessee. A foot sprain sent him to injured reserve in Week 10, and Jacoby Brissett finished the year in Arizona.
Over seven seasons as a starter, Murray is 38-48-1. CBS Sports contract analyst Joel Corry noted that over the four years since his most recent Pro Bowl, he has averaged 6.6 yards per attempt.
There’s still a lot of intrigue around how Minnesota’s quarterback room will sort itself out, too. J.J.
McCarthy, who was viewed as the presumed quarterback of the future a year ago, opens Week 1 third on the depth chart behind Carson Wentz. Murray, meanwhile, was named captain in his first season with the Vikings despite not having taken a snap for them.
“It means a lot,” Murray said Thursday. “It means the world, actually.”
He also made it clear how much he’s been waiting for this moment.
“I can’t tell you how excited and ready I am to just be on the field again,” Murray continued. “Like I said, I haven’t played since October, so it’s been a long time for me.”
Green Bay’s defense has its own unusual angle in this matchup. The Packers’ new defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, coached Murray for three years in Arizona, serving as the Cardinals’ head coach from 2023 through 2025. That gave him three training camps with Murray and three seasons of practice reps against him.
Sunday is also Minnesota’s third straight opener against a newly hired defensive coordinator, following Dennis Allen with Chicago in 2025 and Shane Bowen with the Giants in 2024.
Whatever Gannon has shared about Murray isn’t leaving the room.
“Yeah he has, but I ain’t gonna display what he’s told us,” Xavier McKinney said Tuesday, per Matt Schneidman.
Green Bay will be shorthanded, too. Josh Jacobs is on the commissioner’s exempt list, and Micah Parsons is on the physically unable to perform list after knee surgery. Parsons will miss at least the first four games.
The Packers did beat Minnesota 23-6 at Lambeau Field on Nov. 23.
This time, kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. CT.
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