The Vikings’ QB Situation Changed Saturday (But Not How You Think)
When the Minnesota Vikings kicked off against the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday, all eyes were on the quarterback position. Sam Darnold was set to start, but J.J. McCarthy would get significant run. When the dust settled, there was another takeaway to be had.
The Vikings’ QB Situation Changed Saturday (But Not How You Think)
Jaren Hall can’t be rostered by Kevin O’Connell.
It was announced before the game that veteran Nick Mullens would not play. That’s a fine and understandable decision for Kevin O’Connell. The longtime backup has more than shown what he is capable of at the NFL level. He isn’t a great talent, and as the Vikings saw firsthand last season, he’s probably not capable of winning games on his own. He will make aggressive decisions, and some of them will have egregious results.
What Mullens does provide is a backup ability that can be capable in short stretches. If Darnold is going to be the starter out of the gate, then using Mullens as his backup makes a decent amount of success. That would obviously not take place should the Vikings find a suitor who comes calling with a late-round pick looking for a trade.
After what Hall showed in his run, though, they simply can’t afford to see a situation where he takes the field. Hall was a late-round pick last season, and he shouldn’t have ever needed to be thrust into action as a rookie. That said, a full year of development appears to have done him very little good, and it’s worth wondering if he regressed a bit.
Against the Las Vegas Raiders backups, Hall was often out of sorts. He made poor reads, threw awful passes, and simply looked unfit to play at the highest level. That’s unfortunate for a guy who has watched the quarterback position be taken over from the top down this offseason. Rather than elevate himself to the point of worthwhile consideration as a developmental player, he has all but forced the Vikings’ hand.
Draft pick capital can have value, but late round picks ever generate little. Giving up Mullens, and therefore going with Hall in any capacity as a backup, would be a much more egregious misstep than it may have been considered coming into the preseason.
Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes weekly for Twins Daily. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.
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