Murray locks in as captain, McCarthy set to make the 53
GM Nolan Teasley confirmed Kyler Murray is the Vikings' starter and captain while J.J. McCarthy will make the 53, and Kyle Van Noy joins the practice squad after Tyler Batty's torn ACL.
Murray's a captain now, and the job is settled under him
Kyler Murray is one of the Vikings' 2026 captains, the club's own account confirmed this week, listed alongside Justin Jefferson, Brian O'Neill, Andrew Van Ginkel and long snapper Andrew DePaola — a title for a quarterback who took just six snaps across the whole preseason slate and never needed more to lock down the job.
#Vikings GM Nolan Teasley says QB J.J. McCarthy has practiced fully the last two days. Expects him on roster Week 1. “Pleased that he’s part of the present version of the Minnesota Vikings and excited about his future.”
Nolan Teasley did not duck the harder question at his post-cutdown press conference. Asked about J.J. McCarthy's path, Teasley said, "He's really talented, I think I said that from the jump. He was picked in the first round for a reason. He has the hardest job in sport, he's only started 10 games and his story is not written," per the team's official site — a GM's way of saying the job is Murray's without writing McCarthy off.
McCarthy has cleared the only bar that mattered since the ankle injury that ended his preseason early: full practice reps in each of the last two days, Alec Lewis of The Athletic reports. Teasley confirmed he expects McCarthy on the 53-man roster for the opener, even while declining to say whether he's the backup — Minnesota opens the year with three healthy arms and, for the first time all camp, an order among them nobody is arguing about.
Preseason closes 1-2 after a 34-6 finale in Denver
With McCarthy scratched, Carson Wentz got the start and turned in about as clean a stat line as 4 attempts allow: 3 of 4 for 15 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, plus a scoreless run and a fumble he chased down and recovered himself. Minnesota fell 34-6 on August 29, closing the exhibition slate at 1-2 after the August 15 road win over the Giants and the August 22 home loss to Baltimore.
Broncos6-34
Ravens3-13
Giants13-10The bright spots were in the margins, same as always in a finale nobody but the depth chart cares about. Will Reichard connected from 46 and 28 yards, building his case for a locked-down kicking job, while Demond Claiborne carried it 8 times for 21 yards and added 2 kickoff returns for 55 yards — exactly the 2-way value that gets circled on a roster spreadsheet in the season's final week of cuts. None of it touches the record that matters: the Vikings open 0-0 like everybody else, with the last live look anyone got before Week 1 now on the books.
Van Noy reunites with Flores after Batty's torn ACL
Tyler Batty's preseason finale ended his season before it started — a torn ACL suffered in the August 29 loss to Denver, Tom Pelissero reports, sending a player Minnesota expected to be a key rotational edge rusher straight to injured reserve and thinning a room already down Jonathan Greenard, traded away earlier in the offseason.
Veteran OLB Kyle Van Noy is signing with the Vikings, sources tell @ringer @netflixsports. Van Noy and DC Brian Flores won two Super Bowls together with the Patriots. Now they’re teaming up in Minnesota, where Van Noy will start on the practice squad to ramp up.
The answer arrived within days: Kyle Van Noy is signing with the Vikings' practice squad, reuniting him with defensive coordinator Brian Flores, with whom he won two Super Bowls in New England, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network/Netflix reports. Van Noy is 35 and spent the last three seasons in Baltimore, but a two-time champion walking in behind a torn ACL at a position of need is exactly the depth move a fan actually notices.
GM Nolan Teasley called it "veteran presence at a premium position" when he confirmed the addition, and the plan is for Van Noy to work his way onto the 53-man roster from the practice squad rather than start there — ramp-up now, active role later.
Parsons and Jacobs may both sit when the Packers arrive
It's Sunday afternoon vs. the Packers to open the season at U.S. Bank Stadium, and Minnesota gets Green Bay banged up at two spots that matter most. Micah Parsons is opening the year on short-term injured reserve while finishing his recovery from last year's ACL tear, which rules him out for at least the first 4 games, and Josh Jacobs hasn't been formally ruled out but is considered unlikely to play — MarShawn Lloyd, limited to 7 touches across 2 injury-shortened seasons, currently projects to start in his place, per PFF and Yahoo Sports.
Green Bay is 2-1 in its own exhibition slate and comes off a 42-38 win over the Cardinals, so this isn't a team walking in cold. But the number reflects Minnesota's spot at home: the Vikings opened as 1.5-point favorites, and the total was set at 45.5 — a middling number for a division opener both rosters would rather decide up front than in a shootout.
Green Bay still has Jordan Love, coming off the best-graded season of his career, so the absences at edge and running back don't make this a layup. It's a 3:25 kickoff with the whole building watching whether Murray's first start as a captain looks like the guy Teasley just vouched for.