Vikings offense and defensive units at Training Camp in Eagan, Minnesota. July 2022. The team scrimamges in preparation for the preseason with first year head coach Kevin O'Connell at the helm.
At the top of the ticket for the Minnesota Vikings’ upcoming quarterback battle, most predict Sam Darnold, the veteran, will prevail over J.J. McCarthy, the rookie, at least to start the season.
But after those men, Minnesota will quietly feature a roster-cut battle between Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall. And according to former Vikings general manager Jeff Diamond — yes, the man who drafted Randy Moss 26 years ago and unearthed John Randle and Cris Carter from nonrelevance — Hall will prevail as the team’s QB3, not Mullens.
Diamond writes weekly at VikingsTerritory and also contributes to The 33rd Team. Yonder, he wrote this week, “Veteran Nick Mullens and second-year man Jaren Hall will also compete for the No. 3 job (with the cheaper Hall likely to emerge).”
Diamond also cited the club’s would-be cap savings of $940,000 with Hall over Mullens — money that could be used on extraneous free agents — and deemed Mullens an “unnecessary luxury” at QB3.
Hall-over-Mullens is a brave new world for Vikings-themed predictions, so let it be known — if Hall gets the nod over Mullens, well, Diamond was on top of it.
“Darnold was the Jets’ third overall pick in 2018 and is now on his fourth team. O’Connell says he’ll likely start the regular season opener, but things can change, and McCarthy can win the job if he earns the coaches’ trust in August,” Diamond also opined on the Darnold v. McCarthy battle. “He’s the fans’ choice, and both players are fortunate to work with a great supporting cast led by All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson.”
While the Diamond prophecy could materialize — and no Vikings fan would be too shocked — others have recently offered a rosier outlook on Mullens’ 2024 status. In fact, the voice of the Vikings, Paul Allen, said a week and a half ago that Mullens may vie for a QB2 job and steal the gig from McCarthy.
Allen opined on McCarthy’s QB1 and QB2 stakes on his show nine days ago: “I would make it prohibitively favored in that it would be Sam Darnold starting, Nick Mullens as the backup, and then J.J. McCarthy as the 3rd QB … But this is an opportunity for McCarthy.”
Allen added, “Puncher’s chance would be too strong, but long-ish shot fashion to win the two jobs in training camp. And I don’t necessarily know if it’s going to happen, but I would make 3 QBs on the active roster prohibitively favored.”
If Diamond is correct, it will have meant that Minnesota’s coaching staff may still value Hall’s upside over Mullens’ turnover-happy recklessness. Mullens had no problems — absolutely none — pushing the ball downfield late last season, but the gunslinger was hyper-prone to wild interceptions. For that reason, most Vikings fans subtracted Mullens from the team’s long-term planning, even as a patchover quarterback, the job later earned by Darnold.
On Hall, he looked decent for a drive in Week 9 at the Atlanta Falcons last November. But down the stretch of 2023, Minnesota handed Hall the baton in a crucial game versus the Green Bay Packers, and he utterly flopped. However, that’s the case for rookies, at times, especially late-rounders.
Interestingly, Hall is about five years older than McCarthy, a vast age variance between two men drafted one year apart.
You can read Diamond’s most recent article from VikingsTerritory here.
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.