If Vikings Want a Different QB2, It’s Slim Pickings

Jake Browning
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The panic button was slammed after the Minnesota Vikings second preseason game regarding the backup quarterback position.

Neither Kellen Mond nor Jake Browning seems adequate as a QB2 option if either man was asked to play regular season football tomorrow. Mond has a lot of time to go for growth and development — he is a rookie — so his overall prognosis is more geared toward beyond 2021.

Browning, on the other hand, convinced thousands of Vikings fans that he was the real QB2 deal after a night scrimmage in Eagan three weeks ago. Hell, he cajoled some into believing he could play as a starter if called upon. Alas, the Browning hype was way too vociferous and overblown as the 25-year-old has struggled ever since his so-called magical scrimmage.

The Mond-Browning sandwich is so bland to date for QB2 that the hypothesis of signing a better backup quarterback hit the Vikings stratosphere.

This was an opportunity for Zimmer, in support of his young signal-callers, to offer a “hard no.” Instead, he verbalized the opposite, affirming a maybe or not a bad idea, based on the listener’s perception.

The problem? Outside of a trade, the Vikings free-agent quarterback options are slim.

Josh Rosen is a free agent. But he’s struggled at every stop of his three-year career after selection in the 1st Round from the 2018 NFL Draft. The Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and San Francisco 49ers all tossed him aside. Would he be better than Mond or Browning? Who knows. That certainly isn’t guaranteed. About the only thing Rosen would offer is some semblance of reclamation project hope. Do the Vikings in a Cousinsless world have time for Rosen to turn good? Unlikely.

Blake Bortles would be doable as a backup quarterback as his starting experience is vast with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Yet, Vikings fans spent a few weeks roasting the Green Bay Packers for signing Bortles during The Great Aaron Rodgers Watch of 2021. Of course, that is meaningless for the Vikings front office, but it is interesting to note. Bortles has tossed 103 touchdowns to 75 interceptions in his seven-year career — not exactly a sexy ratio for a playoff-contending football team as the Vikings aspire to be. As a reservist quarterback, however, Bortles makes sense.

Matt Shaub retired. Robert Griffin III turned to the announcing booth for his next career path. He doesn’t seem to like Kirk Cousins anyway. Alex Smith retired. Jake Rudock isn’t very good. Case Cookus plays for the Las Vegas Raiders now. Case Keenum and Teddy Bridgewater are under contract elsewhere. The Vikings preseason superhero, Kyle Sloter, is unsigned, but he’s never played a professional down of regular season football. Ryan Finley, a former Cincinnati Bengal, is a free agent. Is he really an upgrade from Mond or Browning, though?

Thankfully, Cousins never misses time to injury. If he succumbed to one, it would mark the first time in his NFL career that he missed time because of it.

In all likelihood, finding a QB2 is much ado about nothing. But if general manager Rick Spielman does want a battle-tested option, his list of men to choose from is picked over.

Trading for a “Nick Foles type” is the best non-Bortles, non-Browning, and non-Mond gameplan.

 

 

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