Oct 16, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; Robert Griffin III on the ESPN Monday Night Football Countdown set SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports.
Not so fast, he says.
That’s the message from retired NFLer Robert Griffin III, a teammate of Kirk Cousins in Washington a decade ago.
The Minnesota Vikings swung a low-risk trade for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Joshua Dobbs on Tuesday, sending a 6th-Round pick to the desert for Dobbs and a 7th-Round pick. Shortly after, head coach Kevin O’Connell named rookie passer Jaren Hall the team’s starting quarterback for Week 10 at the Atlanta Falcons, and if the decision were up to Griffin III, he’d roll with Hall no matter what.
Last weekend, the Vikings lost Cousins for the rest of 2023 to an Achilles tear, forcing Hall into the spotlight.
Griffin III, now an analyst for ESPN, hopped on the X app, formerly known as Twitter, and sang Hall’s praises, “The loss of Kirk Cousins is HUGE for the Vikings. There is no arguing against that. They just traded for Arizona Cardinals QB Josh Dobbs but that doesn’t change my belief in Jaren Hall. I called a number of his games at BYU and his ability to make plays with his arm and legs was a sight to see. Hall replaced Zach Wilson at BYU after he was drafted #2 overall by the Jets.”
Hall is 25 and, in theory, should be more game-ready than most rookies.
“Even though everyone in Provo loved Zach Wilson and knew was fully committed to the Cougars, Jaren Hall won them over. With so many offensive weapons at his disposal, maybe Hall can win over the Vikings coaches, players and fan base as well. Skol,” Griffin III added.
Dobbs, the new Hall alternative, started all eight Cardinals games this season before the club announced Monday he’d hit the bench in favor of Kyler Murray or Clayton Tune. In eight games, Arizona tallied a 1-7 record while Dobbs threw for 1,569 passing yards, 8 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions.
In fact, Hall is the least-experienced Vikings quarterback on the current roster, as Nick Mullens, Sean Mannion, and Dobbs have more starts than Hall’s, well, zero.
In August, another former quarterback, Kyle Sloter, also extolled Hall’s upside. Sloter opined, “QB Jaren Hall for the Vikings may have taken one of the biggest steps forward in the NFL in preseason week 3. Thought he played with much better timing and rhythm and made great decisions coupled with accurate balls.”
Griffin III has provided an array of Vikings quarterback takes over the years. After the 2021 NFL Draft, he claimed Kellen Mond could usurp his former teammate, Cousins, for QB1 services.
“As you’ve seen, Cousins has been collecting checks there in Minnesota for a long time, taking them to 8-8, 9-7 seasons. If he has a bad start to the year like he did last year, I could see the fans and maybe the organization (Vikings) leaning toward Mond if he comes in and impresses,” Griffin incorrectly predicted to Bleacher Report.
This time, though, he’s all smiles on the Vikings current starter.
The Vikings are a five-point underdog for Hall’s first start versus the Falcons.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.