The first real test of Minnesota’s offense this week didn’t exactly start cleanly for Kyler Murray.
With the Vikings practicing against the Ravens at TCO Performance Center in Eagan, Murray got the kind of live work that matters most for a starter who isn’t expected to see much, if any, preseason action. He played exactly one drive in the Vikings’ first preseason game against the New York Giants, won’t play Saturday against Baltimore, and would only mildly surprise anyone if he also sits out next Friday’s finale in Denver.
That leaves these joint sessions as his most competitive reps before the regular season opener against the Packers on September 13 at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Day 1, though, was a grind.
Tempers flared more than once, one Ravens player threw a punch, and nobody was ejected. But the biggest story from Wednesday was Murray’s uneven afternoon against a Baltimore defense that controlled a lot of the action.
By the numbers recorded by Matthew Coller of Purple Insider, Murray completed a little over 50% of his throws. He did connect on a few eye-catching deep balls, including a 2-for-4 mark on passes that traveled 20 or more yards in the air.
The issue was the middle of the field. On throws in the 10-19 yard range, Murray went 0-for-2, and while he leaned heavily on short passes - 19 of the 25 throws Coller tracked came between 0-9 yards - he still finished just 13-for-19 in that area.
The encouraging part came later.
In two-minute work against Baltimore’s first-team defense, Murray was perfect, going 3-for-3, according to Judd Zulgad of Purple Daily. That stretch included a deep strike to Justin Jefferson, who was double-covered but still hauled it in stride.
Murray’s final throw of the day was a long touchdown pass to Jefferson, and then J.J. McCarthy followed with another long scoring throw to Myles Price.
Those late highlights mattered for an offense that spent much of the day dealing with a Baltimore defense that set the tone.
There’s also no reason to treat one rough practice like a warning siren. The Ravens are one of the better defenses in football, and their offense had its own problems working against Brian Flores’ unit, according to the reports.
Minnesota has already seen this movie before, too. Last year, JJ McCarthy struggled during joint practices against the Patriots before bouncing back with a near-perfect Thursday.
Two years ago in Cleveland, Sam Darnold was “seeing ghosts.” Darnold then responded the next year with one of the better passing seasons in recent Vikings memory.
So Wednesday was important for Murray, but it wasn’t a season-defining afternoon.
One other detail worth watching from the practice field: Murray showed a connection with TJ Hockenson that hadn’t been public before. Zulgad said Murray threw to Hockenson six times, including four times in team drills, and completed three of those four.
Murray’s history suggests that’s not a coincidence. In Arizona, his favorite receiver over his last couple years there was tight end Trey McBride, and he has shown he can use tight ends both as chain-movers and as bigger-play targets.
That makes Hockenson a name to keep on the radar. He hasn’t gone over 500 receiving yards in a season since 2023, when he caught 95 passes for 960 yards. Over the last two seasons, he’s totaled 92 receptions for 893 yards.
Whether that’s tied to the injury he suffered at the end of 2023 or to uneven quarterback play from Sam Darnold and JJ McCarthy is something the Vikings should start getting answers to in 2026.
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Vikings Have 3 Preseason Battles That Suddenly Matter A Lot
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Quarterback remains the biggest subplot of all. Kevin O'Connell has already labeled J.J. McCarthy the backup, but the way the job is being handled suggests the team is still sorting through its comfort level there, with Carson Wentz also in the mix. With roster decisions drawing closer, Minnesota's next preseason test suddenly feels less like a warmup and more like a checkpoint for a few spots that could shape the final depth chart. [Read more 🡒]