Was the Jaren Hall Swap Necessary?
The Minnesota Vikings watched Jaren Hall mature before their eyes during the preseason this year. After an ugly start against the Las Vegas Raiders, the second-year signal caller had much stronger outings in the final two games. That wound up being just enough to get him cut.
Was the Jaren Hall Swap Necessary?
Kevin O’Connell will roll with Sam Darnold this season as his starting quarterback. J.J. McCarthy won’t be an option after suffering a season-ending knee injury. Nick Mullens is set to be the backup, and Jaren Hall was locked in as the third-string quarterback. He wasn’t a candidate to be snuck on the practice squad, but apparently, Brett Rypien possesses something Minnesota likes.
Last season Hall was thrust into action before he was ready. With Kirk Cousins suffering a season-ending Achilles injury, the Vikings turned to their rookie quarterback. Hall threw just 20 passes and didn’t put the football in the end zone. It was a very muted amount of exposure split between three games. Though he shouldn’t have been expected to contribute much this season either, a change to Rypien is curious.
The former Boise State quarterback has played with the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams. In limited action over his career, he has an ugly 4/9 TD/INT ratio. Like Hall, there’s no reason Rypien should be expected to see snaps for the Vikings.
Oddly, Minnesota felt a need to roster Hall and protect him from another practice squad, only to jettison him a couple of days later. It remains to be seen why Rypien was the preferred pick-up and where Hall came up short. Hall should have already been familiar with O’Connell’s offense, and it’s something that Rypien will have to grasp.
Rypien will need to quickly get up to speed if he is going to integrate into his new team.
Finding the field shouldn’t be the focus as that would represent a negative development for the Vikings. He should at least be ready to practice for the sake of a scout team.
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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