The Vikings are making yet another change under center entering Week 17.
Rookie Jaren Hall will take the field as QB1 for Minnesota this Sunday, NFL Network Insiders Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport reported on Thursday.
The Vikings later officially announced Hall would get the New Year’s Eve start over veteran Nick Mullens.
Hall has seen brief action in 2023, starting Minnesota’s first game this season without an injured Kirk Cousins in Week 9 against Atlanta, completing 5 of 6 passes for 78 yards in before exiting due to a concussion. Hall’s departure forced Josh Dobbs into the lineup, where he enjoyed instant success and took control of the starting job until a stretch of struggles prompted head coach Kevin O’Connell to turn to Mullens as starter in Week 15.
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Since the switch to Mullens, Hall has suited up as the Vikings’ backup. Mullens’ four-interception outing in Minnesota’s Week 16 loss to Detroit caused O’Connell to consider other options, and he ultimately landed on giving the rookie a second shot as a starter.
“We have to maintain possession of the football,” O’Connell told reporters on Thursday, via ESPN.com. “The turnover margin has been well-talked about all season long and I just felt like at this time, giving Jaren a full week of preparation and a clear-cut mindset on the game plan [was best].”
Hall joined the Vikings via a fifth-round pick in the 2023 draft out of BYU, where he started for the Cougars in 2021 and 2022, throwing for 3,171 yards and 31 touchdowns in his final collegiate season. He showed some potential in preseason action before starting the regular season third on the Vikings’ depth chart, where he comfortably watched Cousins attempt to carry Minnesota amid a disappointing 1-4 start.
The Vikings have since won six of their last 10 games and trail Seattle and Los Angeles by one game in the race for one of the final two wild-card spots available in the NFC. Knowing they can’t afford another turnover-filled performance in a meeting with the rival Packers, O’Connell is choosing Hall with the hopes he can produce a more controlled performance than Mullens could in the last three weeks.
