The Vikings Will be Making a Mistake if they Cut a Particular Player
The Vikings will be making a mistake if they cut Jaren Hall.
Before the J.J. McCarthy injury, Mr. Hall was looking like a cut/trade candidate. Neither of Sam Darnold nor McCarthy were going anywhere and it had become clear that Nick Mullens was too cherished to be moved out. So, that meant subtracting Hall. The meniscus tear changes the entire feel of the QB room, though, doesn’t it? Right now, Hall looks like an important piece for 2024. Even better, he looks like he could be an important piece for 2025 (and beyond).
The Vikings Will be Making a Mistake if they Cut Jaren Hall
One of the core elements of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s philosophy is value.
In the 2023 NFL Draft, the Viking sunk the 164th pick into the BYU passer. Doing so gave the roster a developmental QB3 to function behind Kirk Cousins and Nick Mullens. Of course, injuries then ran amok on the QB room, putting the 5th-Round pick in the spotlight earlier than expected, leading to moments of both promise and (mostly) concern.
One wonders if there’s a path forward for McCarthy and Hall to be long-term running mates. The former is the president and the latter is the vice president as Minnesota moves into the future with a pair of intelligent, athletic QBs.
If so, then Adofo-Mensah will have squeezed great value out of that pick. Snagging a long-term QB2 in the 5th is nice work.
The debut preseason game didn’t go particularly well for Hall. The performance brought back memories of the Sunday Night Football tilt against the Packers in Week 17 of last season. In the end, Hall finished his day 7/16 for 63 yards. Pretty poor, but he does deserve credit for leading Minnesota down the field for the game-winning field goal.
Oftentimes, the best measure of someone’s potential rests in how they bounce back from adversity. Preseason Game #1 was bad, yes, but Hall didn’t allow that poor effort to sink his confidence. Instead, he put together fine days against the Browns and then the Eagles.
Consider the basic numbers:
| Game | Completions | Yards | TDs | INTs |
| Raiders | 7/16 | 63 | 0 | 0 |
| @ Browns | 4/5 | 87 | 2 | 0 |
| @ Eagles | 17/25 | 189 | 2 | 0 |
Make no mistake: Jaren Hall has potential. No, he’s not likely to ever become an NFL starter — he’s already 26 — but the man could end up being a tremendous backup. Shouldn’t the Vikings make it a priority to keep him?
Last year, the Vikings needed four quarterbacks to make it through the season. Going into 2024 with anything less than three QBs on the roster would be a mistake, especially since there has already been the injury to McCarthy. Keeping three QBs on the team and a passer on the practice squad may be the best move.
After the game, Kevin O’Connell spent some time discussing Hall’s performance and the upcoming roster crunch. “I thought he did a great job,” the coach noted, “just coming out, he was efficient, he was playing fast.” O’Connell goes on: “I thought he did a really nice job, and I’m proud of Jaren.”
“Everybody’s going to be aware of the good things Jaren did,” O’Connell later explained. The idea is that trying to slip him onto the practice squad isn’t likely to work. Somebody would scoop him up. O’Connell goes on to praise his “comfort” and “growth,” which is exactly what Minnesota was hoping for when they sunk that 5th into Hall.
Jaren Hall completed 65% of his passes as a rookie for 168 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT. He’s carrying a $984,818 cap charge into the season.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.