Minnesota Vikings named top landing spot for $230 million quarterback in 2026

The Arizona Cardinals, for all intents and purposes, are ready for the 2025 season to be over. After starting 2-0, Arizona has gone 1-11 in its last 12 games to stumble to a 3-11 record. In the process, they also shut down Kyler Murray for the rest of the season, which likely means he has played his final snap in a Cardinals uniform.

This has led to speculation on where the former No. 1 overall pick could land in the offseason. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN named multiple teams that could be potential landing spots, including the Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders.

"Does a safe landing spot exist for Murray? Working with, say, Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota would be ideal, but J.J. McCarthy has shown improvement over the past two weeks," Fowler writes. "The Raiders and Jets are among teams which appear to be in transition at quarterback. Whether a team takes a chance on Murray's maligned career -- and gives up draft capital and financial resources to do it -- remains to be seen."

Murray had a terrific start to his career, winning Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019 and earning Pro Bowl nods in both 2020 and 2021. He appeared to be on an upward trajectory when he helped the Cardinals make it to the postseason in the 2021 season. However, the Cardinals were blown out by the Los Angeles Rams 34-11, and they haven't been back to the postseason since.

Meanwhile, Murray hasn't reached those initial highs in the years since the playoff loss. He's played eight or fewer games in two of the last three seasons, and is 16-25 as a starter since 2022. It's clear that a split is imminent. And if the Vikings do feel that Murray can give them something that McCarthy can't, pairing him with Kevin O'Connell could re-unlock some of those traits we saw earlier in his career - similar to what he did with Sam Darnold in 2024.

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