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Whenever the Minnesota Vikings and the Arizona Cardinals get together, we are frequently reminded of the path to stardom of Cardinals’ wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who grew up in the Twin Cities and served as a ball boy for the team in his youth. When the Cardinals come to U.S. Bank Stadium for the All-Important Third Preseason Game™ on Saturday afternoon, another member of the team will also be taking on the team he cheered for as a youngster.
#Cardinals QB Kyler Murray played for a team called the #Vikings as a kid, so he grew up a Vikings fan: Randy Moss, Daunte Culpepper, Brett Favre in 2009 ... until the end. Says that one hurt.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 20, 2019
According to Close, Personal Friend of The Daily Norseman Tom Pelissero™, quarterback Kyler Murray was a fan of the Vikings growing up in Texas. The choice was inspired by a youth team that he played for that was also called the Vikings. I’m not sure whether or not Murray’s Vikings fandom carried on to his college years, but now he no longer carries that burden.
Murray is coming off of a pretty rough second preseason outing. In the Cardinals’ 33-26 loss to the Oakland Raiders last week, Murray completed just 3-of-8 passing attempts for 12 yards, and also took a sack for a safety as the Raiders built an early 26-0 lead. I’m sure that the #1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft will be hoping for a much better performance when he takes on his childhood team on Saturday afternoon. Here’s hoping that it doesn’t happen.