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Just three months removed from being selected in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, Minnesota Vikings rookie quarterback Jaren Hall is already looking the part of an NFL quarterback.
Purple Insider’s Matthew Coller, observing the second official day of Vikings training camp on Thursday, July 27, said that Hall looked “vastly better” than veteran backup quarterback Nick Mullens.
And while Hall is unlikely to truly take the backup job from Mullens, whose 17 career starts give Minnesota more certainty in him than Hall, it is a meaningful step toward him making the final roster and being considered for the backup job behind Kirk Cousins.
“No NFL coach is going to give a quarterback a chance to play in real games that cannot do those things — get everybody lined up, get your throws out on time, throw the ball accurately — Jaren Hall was doing that,” Coller said on the “Purple Insider” podcast. “He already has shown there is potential there. This gives me some confidence that he could make the roster. It’s really not easy to master enough of the offense to come in and look like you’re in control… You just got a little bit of a sense that he was in command.”
Coller, attempting to cool down the hype that comes with training camp performances, added that it is just one day at camp. But it is already an encouraging sign that Hall is on a better developmental trajectory than the last quarterback the Vikings drafted — 2021 third-round pick Kellen Mond, who was released after just one season.
“Mond would just kind of freeze up,” Coller said. “He’d be fumbling snaps, missing passes and scrambling. This is one of those things [competency from quarterbacks] that you know when you see it. That’s what I saw from Hall.”
Vikings Offensive Coordinator Wes Phillips Addresses the Jaren Hall Plan
After Hall’s impressive performance on Thursday, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips addressed the onboarding process for the first quarterback the new regime has drafted in Hall.
“A lot of it’s going to be on him,” Phillips said in a July 27 media conference. “He’s a very mature individual. He studies. He came in they got quizzes in Jeopardy-type quizzes. You could tell he hadn’t put it away all summer. He came ready to go in that aspect.
“But the reps are limited for guys like that. We feel great about Nick [Mullens]. Sometimes you’re trying to get Nick ready as well for his role. Trying to find Jaren some reps can be tough, but we’re going to have some periods where younger guys get an opportunity — certainly expect to see him some in the preseason. Got to see some of those live bullets, got to experience some of the things he’s learned in real-time and we’ve just started that process and we’ll see where he goes from here.”
Jaren Hall Could Push Vikings to Trade Nick Mullens
If Hall continues to stack strong performances together at training camp, his play in the preseason could be enough to potentially push Mullens for his job — which could prompt a trade for the veteran quarterback, Vikings Wire’s Tyler Forness projected.
“Mullens has a salary that is mostly guaranteed in 2023, which means he will be on the team barring a trade. He will be competing with Jaren Hall this year for that backup job, but he should start the season as QB2. If Hall ends up earning the backup job, look for Mullens to be traded like the Raiders traded him to the Vikings,” Forness wrote.
Trading Mullens would create $1.9 million in cap space and likely come with a Day 3 pick, and although that’s not a massive cap saving, it could be enough to sign a veteran because many will become available after cutdown day, which is August 29 this year.
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