Kyle Rudolph Sounds Off on Vikings QB Plan
The Minnesota Vikings inked Kyler Murray to a cheap one-year contract three weeks ago, and a guy who used to play for the same team, tight end Kyle Rudolph, thinks Murray has a chance to become the franchise quarterback.
The former tight end likes where the Vikings may be headed.
Rudolph spoke with Forbes this week, telling DJ Siddiqi his comprehensive thoughts on Minnesota’s 2026 quarterback strategy.
Rudolph Sees Upside in Minnesota’s New QB Direction
Vikings past opines on Vikings future.
Rudolph on Murray
Generally speaking, Rudolph sounded impressed by the Murray addition.
He told Siddiqi about Minnesota’s upside for success, “I think it kind of depends on what they are looking to do. Ultimately, doing the Sam Darnold coming to Minnesota to maybe revive a stalled career, because you still believe that if someone comes and beats out J.J., there is still an opportunity for J.J. to be your franchise quarterback.”
“I think you can look around at a number of guys that are being released, or have been released to Kyler Murray, guys like that that are high draft picks much like Sam Darnold. Didn’t live up to the expectations of a top five draft pick, could revive their career with Kevin O’Connell, much like Sam did. If you’re saying maybe J.J. is not our guy and we want to go all in, we have a roster to win right now. So certainly it’ll be interesting.”
It’s worth noting that Murray signed with the Vikings for $1.3 million. The Cardinals are paying for the rest of his stay through the end of 2026.
Murray’s Job to Lose
Murray isn’t a guy the Vikings signed for competent depth — like Carson Wentz last year. He’s in the house to start in Week 1 of 2026, and the endgame would be for him to excel and keep the job for the long term. As a matter of fact, Minnesota embarked on this experiment with Darnold two years ago, parleying that project into a 14-win season before letting him leave a few months later for the Seattle Seahawks. How’d that go? Darnold won a Super Bowl the moment he became a Seahawks.
The Vikings will give Murray the QB1 job this summer, even if they claim the job is up for grabs. Craving a franchise quarterback for the long haul, Murray has one big chance to lead the team he grew up cheering for — indefinitely. This doesn’t have to be a one-hit wonder like Darnold.
Rudolph Impressed with Rob Brzezinski
Rudolph also opined on the Vikings’ offseason, on the whole: “I’ve said it this whole offseason, I think the Vikings go with a veteran, he either makes J.J. better and that’s great for the organization, or he beats him out and you have a better quarterback with a very talented roster. That’s better for the organization as well.”
“However many hours into free agency, the most impressive thing the Vikings did is pretty much go from $45 million over the cap to I believe the last report I saw was about $30 million of cap space. That’s almost a $70 million cap swing, which is 100% Rob Brzezinski and the genius that he is as the interim general manager that they named to run things through free agency in the draft this year.”
Rudolph crossed paths with Brzezinski for 10 years, so it makes sense that he would pound the table for him.
A Successful Draft Needed
Vikings fans can approach this year’s draft with genuine optimism, a welcome change from the past four years. Drafts previously felt like annual disappointments, consistently yielding poor results and failing to provide sufficient long-term support.
Now, the path forward is a clean slate with general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah out of the equation. The Vikings’ aging roster needs a long-term solution, not temporary fixes. Success depends on drafting well, developing those players effectively, and retaining them for at least four years. Since 2022, Minnesota has done no such thing.
After finishing their competitive rebuild, the Vikings appeared to commit to a younger roster last year. However, the team remains comparatively old, largely because previous draft classes have failed to produce significant, enduring contributors.
Adofo-Mensah had to rely on free agency to compensate for the draft’s shortcomings. While this approach can sustain a team — as Minnesota has shown — it isn’t a viable foundation for building a Super Bowl contender.
The incoming decision-makers must reverse this strategy, prioritizing the draft as the primary source of talent and using free agency as a supplementary tool. This is the model successful contenders follow, and the Vikings claim to be one.
Therefore, this draft — and those that follow — are crucial. The Vikings must capitalize on their multiple picks to compensate for past failures, paving the way for a younger and deeper squad.
All of that will go smoother if Murray is “the guy” at quarterback for the foreseeable future.
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