Kevin O’Connell Said the Magic Word
Kevin O’Connell needs a few things out of his quarterbacks. Most commonly, Coach O’Connell highlights a need for accuracy, meaning his recent idea about Kyler Murray is worth noting.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert passed on the skipper’s recent comment: “When you actually dive in and really study, snap in and snap out, Kyler’s experience at the position, you do see a lot of really, really great qualities that fit into some of the things that we ask our quarterbacks to do. I think Kyler’s an accurate player.”
Kevin O’Connell Confirms Kyler Murray is Accurate
To begin, consider a basic thought exercise.
A passer throws the ball on 1st Down. He launches the pigskin 50 yards down the field, dropping it into the receiver’s mitts with a defender over the top and another close behind. The same passer throws the ball on the next play, completing a 2-yard pass to the running back who was in green grass without a defender in sight. Are both passes equally as accurate?
In each instance, the quarterback went 1/1 on his pass. There is, nevertheless, a context that needs to be considered beyond the basic statistics. Completing the first pass required sensational skill; completing the second pass requires the sort of skills that get featured in Pop Warner.
A quarterback who puts the ball directly into the receiver’s hands is one who allows for yards after the catch. That’s a form of accuracy that is vastly batter than putting the ball at the receiver’s shoestrings. Maybe the ball still gets completed, but the chance at extra yardage after the catch gets kneecapped due to the ball being inaccurate.
The basic point is as follows: looking at completion percentage alone isn’t enough. Important, but not the end of the conversation.
So, begin the conversation with the completion percentage for Murray before moving on from there. Consider how things look since being drafted at No. 1 in the 2019 NFL Draft:
- 2019: 349/542 — 64.4%
- 2020: 375/558 — 67.2%
- 2021: 333/481 — 69.2%
- 2022: 259/390 — 66.4%
- 2023: 176/268 — 65.7%
- 2024: 372/541 — 68.8%
- 2025: 110/ 161 — 68.3%
At the risk of being a touch obvious, note that sample size matters. Go ahead and consider these past two seasons. Murray completing north of 68% of his passes in 2024 is more impressive upon considering that the pass total came in at 541 attempts rather than just 161 attempts from 2025 that featured a similar completion percentage.
Digging down a touch further could involve highlighting expected completion percentage from NFL Next Gen Stats. Murray comes in at first overall from 2025 with an xCOMP% sitting at 69.3%. In 2024, Murray was down at tenth overall with an xCOMP% coming in at 66.6%. Still good. Very good, even.
Now, it’s worth recalling a point made earlier: watching the film to contextualize the numbers is needed. Doing so allows the curious fan, writer, analyst, and coach (among others) to see if the numbers are an accurate reflection of the passer’s ability.
Factors such as the pass protection (or lack thereof), play calling prowess (or lack thereof), talent at receiver (or lack thereof), the depth of the passes (or lack thereof), and a variety of other factors all need to get assessed.
Last season, Kevin O’Connell spent a ton of time discussing the issue in relation to J.J. McCarthy. Feet and eyes, Kevin O’Connell will say, when talking about what a passer needs to do while working through progressions. So, too, will one hear about the merits of being able to stretch a team vertically, how a pass can actually be an extension of the running game, and how the NFL is a completion league. Likewise, there was talk about developing different pitches beyond just a fastball, such as being able to layer throws.
Listen long enough and Kevin O’Connell may even be given the chance to reflect on his NFL career. As a player, O’Connell failed due to not being accurate enough.
Adding it all together makes it hard to escape the conclusion that Kevin O’Connell sees all QB play coming back to accuracy. There needs to be an emphasis on avoiding turnovers, toughness, leadership, arm strength, and tremendous mental bandwidth. Kevin O’Connell, though, consistently talks of the need for accuracy, the keyword he just attached to Kyler Murray.
The Vikings’ head coach thinks that the new add at QB has the factor that’s needed above all.
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