Now that Kevin O’Connell has taken over as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, it’s officially time for him to tackle the No. 1 question on everyone’s mind: Is Kirk Cousins the quarterback of the future?
O’Connell has remained relatively uncommitted so far. “Training camp is a long way away in my mind from the standpoint of what any position group will look like,” he said in an interview with WCCO-AM. Given their history together, Cousins still has a great shot to stay in Minnesota, but his cap hit of $45 million changes things. Therefore, the Vikings can extend Cousins, lessening the cap hit, or trade him away.
No matter how you spin it, whatever O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah decide will dramatically impact not only this season but the next four or five seasons in Minnesota. Cousins’ future is at the forefront of the dialogue, and whether the Vikings move on from him has a significant impact on Kellen Mond.
Just 10 months ago, the Vikings took Mond with the 66th-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, but he didn’t receive a warm welcome in Minnesota. Mond was inactive for most of last season and only appeared for one series against the Green Bay Packers. After that game, Mike Zimmer infamously blasted the rookie QB.
It has been a nightmarish start to Mond’s NFL career. But O’Connell could provide a breath of fresh air for Mond.
However, the Vikings would have to trade Cousins for Mond to have a fresh start. It’s hard to say how likely that is right now, but the QB market has yet to establish itself, and there have already been reports of teams inquiring about his availability.
If the Vikings trade Cousins, it potentially creates an intriguing experiment between O’Connell and Mond.
The entire appeal of Mond was that he has everything Cousins doesn’t. He provides a big frame, increased mobility, and youth under center. O’Connell hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to work with that kind of QB.
Before arriving in Minnesota, O’Connell’s starting QBs were mostly pocket passers who could get out of the pocket when necessary. O’Connell is an analytical, offensive mind. If Mond ever develops into a reliable starter in Minnesota, it’ll be because O’Connell designed an offense for him.
Schemes can be everything in the NFL. Mond was likely never going to amount to anything under Zimmer because Minnesota’s former head coach would never design a scheme around Mond.
O’Connell joked about it in his introductory press conference, but he knows what it feels like to sit and watch from the sidelines as a young quarterback. He’s built his coaching philosophy on more positive feedback than Zimmer’s cold, old-school style.
Mond could see a significant boost in this sort of culture. Pundits touted Mond for his athletic ability. He just needed to tighten up his throwing mechanics and accuracy. Think about when Josh Allen was coming out of college. He had all the athleticism in the world but struggled his first two seasons because he was so raw coming out of Wyoming.
However, he made that jump in Year 3, and now he is a top-five quarterback in the league. His successes wouldn’t come without his failures, which is often misunderstood.
In Year 1, the Vikings didn’t allow Mond to learn through failure. Nobody would have expected him to play over Cousins, but it says a lot that Zimmer refused even to activate him.
There’s not a single player on the team who could benefit more from a head coaching change. Mond will go from fizzling out early under Zimmer to essentially a second shot at the rookie season.
Mond’s future hinges on what happens with Cousins, but if the Vikings trade Kirk, it makes all the sense in the world for Mond to get a shot at the starting gig. Minnesota invested a third-round pick in him, and they’ll never garner any value from the pick if Mond never sees the field.
The best-case scenario for Mond is the Vikings trade Cousins, and Mond competes with a mid-tier veteran for the starting job. Everything that came out of training camp heading into 2021 signaled Mond is an extremely hard worker, and a new spark of life may be the catalyst that launches him into a starting QB job.
Whether or not he’d be ready for it remains to be seen, and we don’t know O’Connell’s opinions on Mond. But the uncertainty around Mond could all be cleared with a Cousins trade.
He never got to see the light of day with Zimmer, but that should change under O’Connell. If Minnesota moves on from Captain Kirk, don’t be surprised if Mond takes a giant leap under a young new regime.
