On Tuesday, the Minnesota Vikings officially named Kyler Murray their starting quarterback as he beat out J.J. McCarthy for the role. While it was a legitimate quarterback competition where both players impressed at times, there was one thing that Murray brings to the table that McCarthy does not: his running ability.
While McCarthy is more than capable of moving around, escaping the pocket, and picking up an occasional first down with his legs, Murray can be legitimately lethal when he hits the open field. That is what truly sets him apart and gives him a secret weapon that McCarthy simply does not have.
It’s a special skill, and Murray knows it.
“I think, you know, as far as my ability to move around, stuff like that, it’s tough to emulate that stuff on the practice field, when bullets aren’t really flying and there’s no referees out here to be able to say if we were sacked or not,” Murray said after he was named the team’s starter this week, via Pro Football Talk.
“But I think when we get out there, you know, come game time, I think that stuff just happens for me. That stuff just happens, you know, trying to premeditate what I’m gonna do or anything like that. But I definitely think that’s an ability of mine that, you know, is a special one.”
Murray’s coaches have taken notice, too, as Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown spoke on the extra dynamic Murray brings to the position earlier this month.
“We’ve all seen SportsCenter, the stuff that he does with his legs — so you can’t discount that,” McCown said, via Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports. “We want to coach him and kind of ask him, to a degree, to operate in our offense and then add his touch to it within that as those plays. The game gives you those opportunities. You don’t know when it’s going to happen, but those plays come up. And so we’re hoping that that’ll be a positive for us if/when that does happen. But it’s coaching him as if he’s just another Vikings quarterback that’s in our system, learning our system, trying to grow him in our system the right way. And then again, letting his God-given ability and skill set take over when he plays.”
We’ll have to see how often Murray utilizes his legs this season with the Vikings. But there’s no denying his unique ability to create on the ground.
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