Mullens will have a chance to beat Sean Mannion and Kellen Mond, who are competing for the position. Neither has stood out in training camp or two preseason games, where the two have split reps evenly. Coach Kevin O’Connell refused to back either man after Saturday night’s 17-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, in which they combined to complete 20 of 35 passes for 147 yards, with Mond throws two cuts. “Ultimately you’d love to come out of the night feeling like you’re shooting, both of them fired up the team and scored a lot of points and we’ve got a tough conversation and discussion ahead of us as a staff and as an organization. “O’Connell said Saturday night. “Even though we didn’t do that, I still think there were some real teachable moments and then some real moments where we’re going to be able to evaluate and really look at where we are in this position as we put everything back in. come in this week to see how we should allow these guys to compete.
“Because, as we’ve talked about, in my mind the clock is ticking. While I feel like our starters are in a great spot for 9/11, and that’s really our focus, there’s a lot of work that we have to continue to be allowed to play outside so we feel good about the overall depth of our squad and we will certainly allow that in practice this week.” Mullens started 16 games for the San Francisco 49ers from 2018 to 2020, playing in an offense similar to the one O’Connell installed with the Vikings. He added one start last season for the Cleveland Browns, but was behind Derek Carr and Jarrett Stidham on the Raiders’ depth chart this summer. The Vikings overhauled their football operations this offseason, but new general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah decided to bring back all three of their 2021 quarterbacks for practice. Cousins signed a contract extension and Mannion signed a one-year deal. Mond was a third-round pick in the 2021 draft and didn’t seem ready to take over as the No. 2 quarterback this summer.
