The Kyler Murray hamstring injury is worse than the Minnesota Vikings first let on. The starting quarterback has a Grade 2 hamstring strain that will keep him out of Monday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills — and potentially beyond, according to a report Saturday from The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero.
Murray has not practiced all week and was already ruled out for Monday night. Now the Vikings face the possibility that the absence stretches longer, with the team set to reassess his health ahead of next Sunday’s NFC North game against the Green Bay Packers.
“Murray received several medical opinions on the hamstring after last Sunday’s loss at Detroit, and the risk of making the injury worse or having Murray alter his style by trying to play this week weren’t worth it. So Carson Wentz will start against the Bills, and then the Vikings will reassess Murray’s health ahead of their Week 10 NFC North matchup with the Packers,” Pelissero reported.
Kyler Murray hamstring injury: what we know
The injury dates to last Sunday’s 19-15 loss at Detroit, the Vikings’ first defeat of the season. Murray played the whole game at Ford Field, then reported soreness in the hamstring. Head coach Kevin O’Connell confirmed the soreness early in the week and said Murray was going through a “full eval,” adding at the time that he did not think his quarterback would miss the Bills game.
That outlook changed as the week went on. Imaging confirmed a strain, Murray did not practice Thursday or Friday, and O’Connell ruled him out by Thursday. Saturday’s report put a grade on it: a Grade 2 strain, a partial tear that typically takes longer to heal than a Grade 1 pull. Pelissero has noted that recovery from a Grade 2 hamstring strain usually runs three to six weeks, though the team is publicly calling Murray week to week.
“We don’t believe it to be more than a week-to-week kind of thing right now,” O’Connell said Thursday, according to ESPN.
The timing matters. Murray is 29 and in his first season in Minnesota, and the injury is the second to sideline him this year — he suffered a concussion in the season opener and sat out the Week 2 win over the Chicago Bears while in the concussion protocol.
Carson Wentz starts Monday Night Football
Carson Wentz will make his 101st career start on Monday night against Buffalo, with former Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer as the backup. Wentz has already played for the Vikings this season, stepping in after Murray’s Week 1 concussion and throwing for 276 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the Week 2 win over Chicago.
The assignment is a difficult one. The Bills bring one of the league’s most explosive offenses to U.S. Bank Stadium, and the Vikings are defending a 6-1 record built largely on defense and special teams rather than the passing game. Wentz will have Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at his disposal, but the connection between Murray and Jefferson has been a work in progress — Murray missed Jefferson on several potential big plays in Detroit, a point O’Connell raised after the game.
“It’s just continuing to build that rapport of the plans, the comfort level,” O’Connell said after the loss, “and continuing to implore some input from him on things he likes and things [where] we carve it and make it even cleaner and better for him so that we do get some of that comfort where he’ll throw things with anticipation and we get the look for a play, and we all know it’s coming, and we see the pitch and catch there.”
What the injury means for the Vikings’ season
The Vikings are 6-1 and in the thick of the NFC race, but the record papers over an offense that has not found its rhythm. Murray has thrown for 1,022 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions this season, and the team has leaned on its defense and special teams to win games while the passing attack catches up.
That is why the Grade 2 diagnosis carries weight beyond Monday night. If Murray misses multiple weeks, the Vikings would be asking Wentz to hold the offense together through a stretch that includes Green Bay next Sunday. Pelissero reported that how Wentz plays against the Bills could shape how patient Minnesota is with Murray’s rehab — a strong showing would make it easier to give the starter extra time to heal.
Trade deadline: Vikings not shopping for a quarterback
With the NFL trade deadline hitting Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET — less than a day after the Bills game — the injury has fueled speculation about whether Minnesota might look outside the building for help. Pelissero reported Saturday that the Vikings have not seriously discussed trading for a quarterback, including a reunion with Kirk Cousins, who is now throwing touchdowns in Las Vegas. He also cast doubt on Minnesota’s interest in Daniel Jones, and reported that the Colts have told interested teams Jones is not available.
The message from the Vikings is that they are riding it out with the quarterbacks they have. Wentz gets Monday night, Murray gets time to heal, and the team reassesses before Green Bay.
Analysis: Monday night decides how patient Minnesota can be
This is a straightforward calculation for the Vikings, and it starts with Wentz. A win over Buffalo on Monday night keeps Minnesota at 7-1, keeps the division race in hand, and buys Murray the recovery time a Grade 2 strain demands. A loss does not change the math much — Murray still should not be rushed back — but it would raise the pressure on a front office that has, by all reporting, decided not to chase a trade.
The deeper question is the one the Vikings have been living with all season. Murray was brought in to run Kevin O’Connell’s offense, and through seven games the connection with Jefferson has not clicked the way either side hoped. An injury absence does not solve that; it pauses it. When Murray returns, the same work — timing, anticipation, trust — will be waiting, and the Vikings’ margin for error in the NFC will be thinner than it is today.
What to watch next
Monday night at U.S. Bank Stadium is the first checkpoint: Wentz against the Bills, with the Vikings trying to stay perfect at home and get back in the win column. The trade deadline follows on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, and the Vikings’ next injury update will come ahead of the Week 10 trip to Green Bay on Sunday, Nov. 15. That is when Minnesota will find out whether this is a one-game absence or the start of a longer stretch without its starting quarterback.
Sources: The Ringer (Tom Pelissero) via Bleacher Report; NBC Sports; Sporting News; Athlon Sports; SI.
