The Vikings aren’t looking for a quarterback fix at the trade deadline, even with their offense still trying to find its footing.
According to The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero, Minnesota remains committed to Kyler Murray and has no plans to chase QB help before the deadline. That stance matters because the Vikings have already lived through a wild stretch at the position this year, and they’re still sorting out the fallout.
Minnesota briefly had Daniel Jones on the roster in 2024 after the Giants waived him, but the team let him leave for Indianapolis and then watched Sam Darnold head to the Seahawks the following offseason. The Vikings chose to move forward with J.J. McCarthy, a decision that backfired and may have helped lead to former GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s ouster earlier this year.
After that firing, the Vikings brought in Murray, re-signed Carson Wentz, and pushed McCarthy down to third-string before sending him to the Giants in late September for a fifth-round pick.
Even with all that movement, Minnesota is still the NFL’s last unbeaten team at 6-0. The defense has carried the load, ranking second in the league in yards allowed per game at 252.8 and first in points allowed per game at 12.3, nearly five points better than the next closest team.
The offense has not matched that pace. Under Murray, it ranks near the bottom of the league in both yards per game at 281.7 and points per game at 20.8. Still, Pelissero says the Vikings are sticking with him.
That’s notable because Murray will be a free agent again in 2027, when the Cardinals will no longer be covering most of his salary. For now, though, Minnesota is betting on what it already has rather than chasing a midseason upgrade.
Pelissero pointed to Murray’s recent stretch as part of the reason for that confidence. Over his last six quarters, he has completed 40 of 48 passes.
In the fourth quarter of a tight Week 7 game against the Colts, he also turned in a 35-yard scramble, found T.J. Hockenson on a 22-yard pass to keep a drive alive, and connected with Jordan Addison on a 34-yard completion that was erased by a penalty away from the play.
The supporting cast has not exactly been clean, either. Jefferson is still dealing with the lingering effects of an ankle injury, Addison and Hockenson have both missed time, and Jordan Mason recently returned from IR.
Taylor has also been tied to Minnesota in deadline chatter, with the Vikings mentioned among the frontrunners along with the Giants. But the message from Pelissero’s reporting is clear: the plan is to back Murray, not replace him.
Murray, 29, played only 11 snaps in Week 1 because of a concussion and then missed Week 2 while going through the concussion protocol. In the four-plus games he has played this season, he has completed 83 of 125 passes for a 66.4% completion rate, with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
He has also run 25 times for 132 yards. His 85.8 traditional quarterback rating ranks 22nd among 33 qualified players, and his 45.8 QBR ranks 26th.
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Detroit is the next test, and it arrives with the kind of urgency that can expose every soft spot in an offense. The Vikings have not gotten enough from their passing game, and Justin Jefferson still hasnt been targeted 10 times in a game this season, a striking detail for a receiver who usually drives the entire operation. If Minnesota is going to steady itself against the Lions, it will need cleaner quarterback play, more involvement for its best playmakers and, as always in a game like this, a turnover or two to swing the field. [Read more 🡒]