28 July 2023
Make no mistake about it. Jaren Hall knows his place on the Vikings depth chart.
Never mind that the 25-year-old rookie quarterback has already impressed early in training camp at TCO Performance Center.
Never mind he threw a perfectly placed ball to receiver Lucky Jackson during Thursday’s practice, then followed it up by dropping a dime to receiver Thayer Thomas later in the workout.
And never mind that he continued to showcase his arm talent on Friday, demonstrating what made the Vikings take him in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft this spring.
The only thing Hall is focused on this summer is learning from the Vikings’ two veteran quarterbacks, starter Kirk Cousins and backup Nick Mullens.
“I’m trying to get some experience and take advantage of all the reps I can watch,” Hall said. “Just learn from Kirk and Nick.”
In other words, as much as he prides himself on his competitiveness, Hall isn’t thinking about supplanting Cousins or Mullens. Not that he even could at the moment. He still has so much to learn from both players and he’s taking the long view as he tries to carve out a niche for himself in the NFL.
“No expectations,” Hall said. “The goal is to get better and add value to the team somehow. Just soak it all up as much as possible, then carry it over to next year.”
The biggest challenge for Hall has the verbiage that comes with learning the offense. This isn’t college where play calls often are relayed from the sidelines with relative ease. This is the big leagues where play calls are nothing more than word salad that wouldn’t make any sense to the average person.
“Just understanding how Kirk and Nick both take in those words,” Hall said. “That’s the biggest difference for me right now. The football is pretty much the same. Just calling the plays in the huddle is something I’m getting used to.”
There’s a scene in the Netflix docuseries “Quarterback” during which Cousins is filmed listening to his own voice on his drive home. It’s something Cousins actually learned from Mullens, and not surprisingly, Hall has taken that page out of their book this summer.
“I’ve tried doing that ever since I got here,” he said. “There’s a lot of verbiage in the offense. We have a lot of different play calls. It’s all about repping it in my head, so I can to get used to calling it out.”
It will be interesting to follow how much progress Hall makes in training camp. He currently is being limited to a handful of 11-on-11 snaps per practice, with Cousins and Mullens getting most of the reps.
No complaints from Hall, though, as he has continued to learn from afar.
“You see how well they work together,” Hall said. “It’s a pretty cool dynamic to come into as a young guy.”
As for competing for the playing time at some point, Hall dodged the question as best he could. He knows if he continues to do his job, everything else will take care of itself.
“No thoughts about that from me,” Hall said with a smile. “My only focus right now is understanding this offense. Just get a grasp of it because until I do that there’s no conversation whatsoever about that other stuff. I’ve got to prove that I can run the offense, and I’m still in that stage right now.”
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