12 October 2023
Vikings rookie quarterback Jaren Hall has benefited from a gradual ramp-up to start his NFL career.
After learning the nuances of playing the position in training camp, Hall served as the emergency quarterback for the Vikings through the first month of this season. That gave him a taste of what to expect at the highest level while keeping him insulated behind both starting quarterback Kirk Cousins and backup quarterback Nick Mullens.
That’s no longer the case as Hall is suddenly the true backup quarterback on the roster. He stepped into the role last week with Mullens working through a back injury that has since landed him on injured reserve. As a result, Hall is now the cliched one snap away from being thrust into action should anything happen to Cousins.
How much does that change things for Hall? Not much.
“You always try to be prepared regardless of the depth chart,” Hall said. “That’s kind of how I’ve always approached the game.”
Though head coach Kevin O’Connell admitted that the Vikings would have a modified game plan if Cousins ever went down, he praised the strides Hall has taken since being selected in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. The fact that the whole playbook wouldn’t necessarily be available to Hall isn’t an indictment on him. It’s simply the Vikings trying to put him in the best position to succeed.
Talking about the potential of Hall having to play, O’Connell referenced how he was with the Los Angeles Rams when backup quarterback John Wolford had to play in an important game down the stretch. They ended up winning largely because of the game plan they had in place that maximized some of Wolford’s strengths on the field
To that point, as durable as Cousins has proven to be for the past decade, O’Connell isn’t taking that for granted. He has been wired to think under the guise of Murphy’s Law, which states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. That’s been exacerbated with Hall as the next man up.
“The moment we neglect any area of preparation, this league has a way of making us pay for it,” O’Connell said. “I think it is my job to make sure we are prepared in those moments.”
The recent addition of veteran quarterback Sean Mannion to the practice squad has no impact on the game plan for the Vikings this week.
The reps in practice have been dispersed with Cousins as the starting quarterback and Hall as the backup.
“Just getting a few more full-speed reps going against the defense has been good,” Hall said. “Plus, I’m still getting my time in after practice like I have every day.”
What’s the biggest thing Hall has learned through the first month of this season?
“It’s been about changing the mindset a little bit,” he said. “We’re not in that learning phase as much, even if I’m always trying to learn. You’ve got to be more competitive now and find ways to make reps game-like. It’s about competing every day and trying to give our team good looks.”
That way of thinking from Hall translated onto the field in a way that has given the Vikings confidence if he’s ever called upon.
“He wants to kind of have ownership of everything we do,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said. “They always say one play away. He was two plays away. I never saw anything from him except for preparing as if that could possibly happen.
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