Kyler Murray cleared to start for the Vikings against the Bucs

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell confirmed Monday, September 21, that quarterback Kyler Murray has cleared the NFL's concussion protocol and will start Sunday, September 27, when Minnesota visits Tampa Bay at Raymond James Stadium, kickoff 4:05 PM ET, 22:05 CEST. Murray has not taken a regular season snap since the first quarter of the Week 1 opener against Green Bay on September 13, when he left the game on his 11th snap after a hit; backup Carson Wentz has quarterbacked Minnesota's 2-0 start ever since.

Key facts

• Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell confirmed Monday, September 21, that Kyler Murray cleared the concussion protocol and will start Sunday, September 27, at Tampa Bay.
• Murray left the Week 1 opener against Green Bay in the first quarter after a hit on his 11th snap; backup Carson Wentz has quarterbacked Minnesota's 2-0 start ever since.
• Minnesota beat Green Bay 39-22 in Week 1 and Chicago 9-3 in Week 2, its first 2-0 divisional start since 2003.
• Murray has 3,202 career rushing yards and 32 rushing touchdowns since Arizona drafted him first overall in 2019.
• Tampa Bay's defense has three sacks through two games; kickoff at Raymond James Stadium is 4:05 PM ET, 22:05 CEST, on Sunday, September 27.

Who is Kyler Murray

Arizona drafted Murray first overall in the 2019 NFL draft, a rare case of a quarterback who had also been a first round pick in Major League Baseball, taken ninth overall by the Oakland Athletics the year before. He started for the Cardinals for seven seasons, from 2019 through 2025, making two Pro Bowls along the way, before Arizona released him on March 11, 2026, at the start of the new league year. Minnesota signed him the next day on a one-year deal worth the veteran minimum of 1.3 million dollars; Arizona still guarantees Murray 36.8 million dollars this season under the extension he signed there in 2022. Minnesota gave him the Week 1 starting job over J.J. McCarthy, the quarterback the Vikings had drafted a year earlier.

A different problem for a defense

What makes Murray unusual for a reader new to him is not his arm, it is his legs. Since entering the league in 2019, he has rushed for 3,202 yards and 32 touchdowns, numbers that put him among the most productive scrambling quarterbacks in the NFL. Where a conventional pocket passer stands still and reads the defense, Murray regularly turns a broken play into extra yards with his feet, which changes how a defense can afford to rush him.

Facing a defense with three sacks in two games

That matters specifically against Tampa Bay. Todd Bowles' defense leans on disguised blitzes from linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks rather than winning primarily with its four down linemen, and through two games that pressure has produced only three sacks: one from Josiah Trotter against Cincinnati in Week 1 and two more against Cleveland in Week 2. A blitz that does not get home leaves open grass behind it, exactly the space a mobile quarterback like Murray is built to find. BucsWorld covered the wider pattern in why the Bucs defense has struggled at 0-2, part of why the pressure has landed on head coach Todd Bowles, a subject covered separately in what the hot seat talk around Bowles actually means.

The 2-0 Vikings

Minnesota has not needed Murray for a single offensive snap since he left the opener. Wentz relieved him against Green Bay and finished 12 of 19 for 133 yards and three touchdowns without an interception as the Vikings rallied from a fourth quarter deficit to win 39-22. He then made his 100th career start in Week 2 at Chicago, going 11 of 20 for 143 yards in wet conditions as Minnesota's defense and special teams carried a 9-3 win, the franchise's first 2-0 divisional start since 2003. Tampa Bay, by contrast, is 0-2 for the first time since 2014 after last week's 23-19 loss to the Browns.

The opening line

Bettors installed Minnesota as a 2.5 point favorite with the total set at 43.5 points when FanDuel opened its lines for the game Monday, hours after O'Connell's announcement.

For a Bucs defense already short on takeaways and still hunting its pass rush, as the Week 3 schedule page lays out, containing Murray's legs as well as his arm is now the assignment.