Who is Kyler Murray? A two-sport star, a chess player and a Vikings fan.

Emily Leiker, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Mar 12, 2026

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MINNEAPOLIS — You will read plenty about Kyler Murray’s football acumen and his fit with the Vikings in the coming days, weeks and months even. Here’s a few fun facts to know about the 28-year-old quarterback, who agreed on Thursday to a one-year contract with the Vikings.

He’s a Vikings fan

Murray said he has been a Vikings fan since he was 7 years old, when he grew up playing for a Texas youth team called the Vikings.

“Ever since I started playing tackle football,” Murray told local reporters in a video call. “Genuine, genuine fandom — ran deep, Vikings gear through and through. A lot of purple in my household. I don’t want to bring it up right now maybe another day ... I’ll bring it up right now anyways, whatever:

“I cried real tears whenever Brett threw that interception. I cried real tears that day.”

Murray didn’t say which of Favre’s 28 interceptions he threw over two Vikings seasons, but he was surely referring to the 2009 NFC championship game in New Orleans.

He comes from a football family

His father, Kevin Murray, was a star high school quarterback in the Dallas area and went on to start at Texas A&M in the 1980s. Among his cousins is Bears wide receiver and returner Devin Duvernay. (His uncle Calvin Murray was a Major League Baseball player for five seasons.)

He and Kevin O’Connell go way back

Well, to Murray’s high school years, at least. Murray also shared during his presser that he’s known Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell since his days competing in Elite 11, a well-known national quarterback competition for high schoolers. O’Connell also pulled Murray aside and spoke to him following an NFL combine meeting when O’Connell was the offensive coordinator for Washington.

“Ever since then, our relationship, he’s always made sure to check in on me whether it was after a game, things like that,” Murray said. ”I always respected that, always appreciated his opinion of me and the support that he’s given me. For now, getting to play for him and have that relationship with him means the world.”

He won the Heisman Trophy

Murray was born in Bedford, Texas, and went to high school in Allen, Texas. He started his collegiate career at Texas A&M. After one season, he transferred to Oklahoma and had to sit out the 2016 season due to the transfer rules of the time. Murray won the Heisman Trophy with the Sooners in 2018, when he threw for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns and ran for 1,001 yards and 12 more TDs.

He was a two-sport star

Murray was the first athlete to be selected in the first round of both the MLB and NFL drafts. The Oakland Athletics picked him No. 9 overall in the 2018 MLB draft, but after his Heisman Trophy season that fall with Oklahoma, Murray announced Feb. 11, 2019, that he would give up baseball to pursue an NFL career. He was drafted No. 1 overall by the Cardinals later that spring. A’s general manager David Forst said last week that if Murray wanted to return the baseball, the team remained open to it.

He was Offensive Rookie of the Year

Murray won the award following the 2019 NFL season, in which he threw for 3,722 yards and 20 touchdowns with a 64.4% completion percentage with 12 interceptions with the Cardinals and also ran for 544 yards and four touchdowns. Raiders running back Josh Jacobs, Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown and Eagles running back Miles Sanders were runner-ups for the honor.

He plays chess

If you consider chess a sport, Murray is actually a three-sport star. Murray is a frequent competitor and started playing when he was in elementary school. A photo of Murray playing wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. during Cardinals training camp in 2020 first put his chess passion on display to the football world.

———

Andrew Krammer of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.