Vikings trade for Nick Mullens, add new dimension to quarterback situation

At a minimum, Nick Mullens will spend the next week as part of the Vikings' ongoing search for Kirk Cousins' backup this season. By next Tuesday, he could turn out to be the winner of the job.

The Vikings added a third entrant to the race for their No. 2 QB job on Monday, sending a conditional 2024 seventh-round pick to the Raiders for Mullens, who'll make Minnesota his fourth team in five years. If he passes a physical, the 26-year-old will practice with the team on Tuesday.

Mullens, who started 17 games the past four seasons for the 49ers and Browns, joins a Vikings quarterback competition that appeared as open as ever after the team's second preseason game on Saturday. Kellen Mond threw two interceptions in the Vikings' 17-7 loss to the 49ers, and Sean Mannion completed 10 of his 15 passes for 65 yards. Afterward, when asked if he was comfortable with his backup QB situation, coach Kevin O'Connell indicated he needs to see something soon.

"Ultimately, you would love to have come out of tonight feeling like, 'Shoot, they both moved the team and scored a lot of points, and we've got a heck of a hard discussion and conversation ahead,'" he said. "Because as we've talked about, in my mind, the clock is going. Although I feel like our starters are in a good spot for [the regular-season opener on] Sept. 11, and that's where our emphasis is really on, there's a lot of jobs we've got to still allow to play themselves out."

The Vikings faced Mullens in their preseason opener against the Raiders, when the quarterback completed seven of nine passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. They could get him into their final exhibition game on Saturday night in Denver, but O'Connell said the Vikings will meet with Mullens before making that decision.

Mullens, though, has more starting experience than either Mannion or Mond, and had spent time with Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in both San Francisco and Cleveland. With the Raiders, he'd played for Josh McDaniels, a mentor for O'Connell since McDaniels coached him in New England. Even before he arrived in Minnesota, Mullens could draw on plenty of shared history with the Vikings' decision-makers.

"My confidence level is high in Nick," O'Connell said Monday. "Knowing the type of people that have coached him there, their thoughts on him, I don't worry one bit about him getting ready to go from the standpoint of knowing our offense and the scheme and what we're going to try to do against Green Bay. I think he'll be able to apply his experience. That's why it's important when you do make a move like that, it's for somebody that has some game experiences, has taken some real, live snaps to help him acclimate even faster."

If Mullens does not play in a game for the Vikings this season, the trade won't cost them a draft pick. His arrival in Minnesota, though, indicates the new regime is open to the possibility of a shakeup with the quarterback group it inherited.

"I know Kwesi had a relationship with him, obviously, from his time in Cleveland. And then, ultimately, the competition's going to go down to the very end here," O'Connell said. "That does not mean it always just stays the same. Sometimes we may feel the need to add a player at a position – not just quarterback – just to try to maximize what we're going to be this year as a football team.

"I feel really good about all those guys in that room. I know there were some plays we certainly would have liked to have back from Saturday, but still a lot of positives coming out of the game for both Sean and Kellen. I've asked those guys to continue to progress where they're at within the offensive system and the competition, and we'll be able to sort that out when the time's right."