The Minnesota Vikings drafted Jaren Hall with the 164th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL draft. An older prospect, Hall, 25, spent two years on a Mormon mission after high school. Following his mission, he joined the BYU football team in 2018, and also played college baseball. Hall sat behind future No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson from 2018 to 2020. He earned a couple of starts in 2019 while Wilson was out with injury, but he later missed the last five games of that season with a concussion. In 2020, he medical redshirted while recovering from a hip injury. After Wilson left school, Hall took over as the full time starter.
The Vikings brought Hall onto a team that has an uncertain QB future. Kirk Cousins is slated to become a free agent after the 2023 season, and that has led many fans to ask if it made sense for the team to draft a QB early. Post draft, NFL media sources have speculated that Minnesota was trying to trade up in the draft. It’s still very possible that the Vikings could bring Kirk back for 2024 and beyond. But it’s also realistic to see the team moving on from him to get younger and cheaper at the position moving forward.
Highly talented athletes at QB, even if they are raw, will go early in the draft. A fifth round pick is going to have blemishes on his resume. Hall is a good athlete, but has two major negatives when you look at his profile on paper: his size and his age.
Hall’s athletic profile shows his good drill times, but also drives home his lack of size:
Does Hall display the mental processing skills that lend to being a good backup in the NFL? Does he have starter talent but ended up overlooked because of his size and age? I scouted and charted three of Hall’s games from 2022 — against Oregon, Notre Dame, and Boise St. — to see what he can bring to the roster.
Technique and Pocket Management
Hall demonstrates consistent dropback footwork from both under center and shotgun, a rare skill for a college athlete. He completes 1-, 3-, 5-, and 7-step dropbacks with consistent depth and timing that matches up with receiver routes downfield. While he primarily worked from the shotgun, he also took a number of snaps in the pistol or under center, executing play action and rollout concepts that translate to the Vikings’ offense. Hall executes mesh point mechanics well in read option and RPO situations, and effectively sells play action fakes, extending the ball towards the RB. His rollouts are technically proficient, gaining depth initially and coming back towards the line of scrimmage as he is ready to throw.
Hall has consistent and impressive mechanics when asked to make quick one-step throws from under center. It is difficult to get a good grip on the snap and release the ball quickly and accurately, but he was able to do it in multiple situations. The first, precision is necessary because BYU is backed up in their own territory. He gets the throw off clean:
When hitching, Hall’s feet are tied to his reads and he resets his feet to make sure he is lined up with each read in the progression. In the example below, Hall lines up to the right initially, then continually resets his feet as he continues to progress across the field in his reads before scrambling:
Hall’s steps are forward once he hits the top of his drop, and he does not have a tendency to drift backwards in the pocket. When sensing pressure, he shows the ability to make small adjustments in the pocket to keep himself clean. On the play below, he feels the pressure, shifts to his right a step, and climbs a little before delivering an accurate pass into a tight window that allows the receiver to work himself open. As an added bonus, Hall stands in and takes a big hit:
Sometimes Hall drifts sideways towards the side of the field that he is targeting. On the play below, he drifts towards defenders who are pushing the pocket, and can’t step into the throw. This causes the pass to go high:
Hall has a tendency to drift to his right in the pocket, and it got him into trouble multiple times. In the play below against Notre Dame, BYU is in a tough spot. They are backed up, and Notre Dame is sending a blitz. The protection call is good, but it leaves an RB one-on-one against a DE, a losing matchup for the offense. On top of that, none of the receivers get open. Hall naturally drifts to his right, probably based on the pressure, but his internal sense of timing needs to be sped up because of the field position and the losing RB vs. DE matchup. Hall should throw the ball away quickly, but instead takes an unacceptable safety:
Hall has lapses under pressure, but also showed positive examples. When rolling out against pressure, he threw the ball away multiple times without a valid downfield target, but he also took one unnecessary sack. There is room for improvement, but Hall has shown the ability to recognize and adjust to pressure. Below is a good example of where he feels the blitz, rolls out, and knows based on the coverage that his checkdown option will have a ton of space to operate:
Mental Processing
The majority of the concepts BYU asked Hall to execute were quick game or half field reads, but there are also solid examples of full field progressions. Hall understands play design and progresses effectively through his reads in a timely manner. Hall shows the ability to jump through progressions and find outlets when pressured.
Hall threw to his first read on about 70% of the plays that I charted. But he was also able to progress beyond that, with about 20% coming on his second or third read. 10% of his dropbacks turned into scramble drills or throwaways after exhausting his other options. I counted 32 pressures for Hall on these dropbacks, and 6 pressures that he created, with an additional 5 plays where he ended up getting pressured because no one was open. Under duress, he only took 3 sacks across the three games, throwing the ball away 8 times.
Hall shows a high degree of anticipation and coordination with his receivers. The play below is a great anticipation throw, with the slot receiver to the bottom running a dig that wraps around the slot corner. Hall begins his motion before the receiver has even made his break, knowing that he will be in the correct spot, and it leads to a big gain:
Hall’s willingness to throw backshoulder shows the level of trust he has with his receivers. The play below where he throws to the receiver on the bottom of the screen is a great example:
Hall can shortcut reads when under duress to go to his checkdown, like in the below play in the face of the blitz:
It was rare for Hall to execute a full field progression, but he showed the ability to go through those reads. Watch his eyes scan across the field on the play below, where he eventually scrambles because no one was open:
On a scramble, Hall will keep his eyes downfield and wait to turn into a runner. This allows him opportunities to complete throws on scramble drills, like the excellent play below:
Hall shows that he understands where to place the ball against coverages. On the play below, Cover 3 ends up looking similar to Cover 2 with a wheel route. There is an underneath defender and a deep zone defender, and Hall needs to fit it in on the sideline before the defender over the top can make a play. He throws a pinpoint accurate pass, giving the receiver just enough space to catch it in bounds, and it becomes a TD:
Pre-snap, Hall has command at the line of scrimmage and appeared to help set correct protection calls. He also found alerts for quick throws towards the sideline to receivers against off coverage, getting what was essentially free yardage on those plays. In half field situations, Hall typically chose the correct side at the snap, but there is room for improvement.
Hall could stand to be more aggressive throwing the ball. He definitely took shots, and generally balanced aggression well with taking what was there, but he left opportunities for more on the table. I’d rather have to reign a player in a little than ask him to be more aggressive, so this is a minor concern for me.
On the play below, he takes the first read of the slide player in the flat. There is an LB capping this route pretty closely, and a window for the over route to come open behind it. The short throw is the safe option, but it gains virtually nothing. Letting the play develop further, then throwing the ball away if no one else ends up open, is an option with similar downside but significantly more upside that I’d like to see him take:
This conservatism is not a major red flag in Hall’s game, but it limits his upside. The best QBs in the league will consistently make aggressive tight-window throws.
Hall had a couple of lapses where he incorrectly read the coverage. On the play below, the defense is playing Cover 3 and the CB has his eyes in the backfield the entire time. This is not a scenario where you want to throw backshoulder, which only works when the DB has his eyes on the WR. Hall attempts it anyway, and it becomes an interception:
arm talent
Hall has an acceptable level of arm talent for the NFL level, but I wouldn’t say he rises past “good” from an arm talent perspective. Hall is an accurate passer. Per PFF, his adjusted accuracy in 2022 was 75.9%, which was tied for 27th among 155 FBS passers with at least 100 attempts. I charted him as accurate on 79 of his 95 aimed passes throughout the sample. Fifty-one of his throws were “pinpoint,” placed where it maximizes the receiver’s ability to make the catch and gain yards after it. Twenty-eight were “general,” throws where the receiver needed to adjust to make the catch but were still catchable.
Hall was remarkably accurate in the quick game. I charted all 32 of his passes behind or within three yards of the line of scrimmage as accurate, with 21 being pinpoint. Four of his 11 generally accurate throws were under pressure. I felt his accuracy waned a little in the Boise St. game; I charted the majority of his non-pinpoint throws in that game. Still, he did an impressive job of making sure his passes were on target even when under duress, including this accurate loft over defenders on a screen that turned into a 48-yard TD:
Hall will throw passes with appropriate leverage to give his receiver the ability to turn upfield away from a defender or give him exclusive access to catch a pass. This throw to the pylon on a stool route is broken up, but his receiver is the only player with a chance to catch the ball:
Hall was also very accurate in the intermediate game, on throws with depths of target between 10 and 30 yards. I charted him as accurate on 31 of 38 aimed attempts, and pinpoint on 19 of those passes.
Hall has the arm talent to rip intermediate throws into windows on the far sideline, like the play below. Hall throws an out to the field with great velocity, this type of throw is the standard for determining if a player has adequate NFL arm strength:
Hall maintains his accuracy when throwing on the move in either direction. Throwing while moving to your left is difficult for right-handed QBs because you need to torque your body around to make an accurate throw. Hall has multiple examples of executing these throws, like below:
In the 20+ yard range, Hall displayed accuracy to the near sideline, the middle of the field, and from the middle of the field to the sideline. I don’t have an example of far sideline accuracy in that range, but there are a number of examples like the one shown above in the 10-20 range.
Here is an accurate pass to the boundary that is dropped:
Here is a pass that hits an open receiver in stride over the middle and leads to a TD:
Here is a great throw to the sideline on a corner route, where only his receiver can get it, and a toe-tap catch for a TD:
Hall is capable of making tight window throws in the intermediate range and combines his anticipation and arm strength to do so. On the dig route below, he drives the ball in between the outside corner and the defender in the middle of the field:
Hall’s touch also allows him to hit tight windows between the LB and safety level, like on this throw, where he layers the pass over the LB and underneath the CB in a deep zone:
But Hall struggles to be accurate past 30 yards. I charted just one of his six attempts over 30 yards as accurate, and that pass fell incomplete with a defender in the area. Hall does not have elite downfield accuracy like some of the best players in the NFL.
Hall’s inaccuracies are generally tied to footwork issues. If he is unable to get lined up properly, he will spray the pass and does not have the upper body torque to overcome the lack of a base. On the example below, Hall stays too open towards the middle of the field and does not get lined up for the pass. It causes a miss inside on an open slant for a TD on third down:
When Hall can’t step into throws because of defenders in his face, he won’t get enough power behind them to make an accurate throw down the field. The interception against Notre Dame above is a good example, as is this play where he throws a duck of an interception:
When Hall has general accuracy instead of pinpoint, he tends to miss high. Missing high is a sign of slightly deficient arm strength because you need to put a higher trajectory on the ball to get it to the location you want. Over the middle of the field, this can lead to tips up in the air, which lead to interceptions like below:
Running ability
BYU was comfortable using Hall on designed runs like draws and read/speed option. Hall is a good athlete for the position, and has athleticism that is better than many modern QBs. However, it falls short of elite athletes at the position like Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson. Hall’s burst, speed, and agility will allow him to outrun and juke most defensive linemen and some linebackers.
While running, Hall shows the ability to cut off of his blockers and finish a run while spinning out of a tackle:
Hall could read out read option plays more effectively. There were two plays against Oregon where I believe he should have handed the ball off rather than keeping it. In the play below, the unblocked end does not crash down the line with the RB fake, and he forces Hall to the corner, where he is tackled by the force CB. To the RB side of the play, the defense is gapped out and the RB should have a huge hole with two linemen climbing to block LBs on the second level:
Hall generally protects himself, but is also willing to put his body on the line in critical situations, like the play below, which occurs with BYU down late in the 4th quarter. Maintaining a balance between putting the team in a position to win and protecting your body is important for a QB, and Hall understands that nuance:
I’ll leave you with Hall’s best play as a runner. On third down, he sees an open lane to scramble and takes it for a first down. An LB and safety take a bad angle, and he is able to punish that with great second level vision to turn the play into a massive 48-yard gain to put BYU in scoring position:
Summary
As a passer, Jaren Hall has excellent short accuracy, strong intermediate and mobile accuracy, and struggles with deep accuracy. He has adequate arm strength to make throws to the intermediate field, but his arm strength wanes if he is unable to get a proper base underneath him, leading to inaccurate passes and potential turnovers. Hall’s lack of height will lead to passes that are too high for receivers or batted at the line. Hall is an anticipation thrower who trusts his receivers to win one-on-one situations. Hall displays an understanding of coverages that allows him to anticipate throws, and often makes good pre-snap reads to put the offense in a strong position. Hall will have lapses where he trusts receivers too much or misreads the defensive structure.
From a technique standpoint, Hall has advanced footwork on dropbacks from shotgun and under center, and executes believable play fakes. Hall does not drift backwards in the pocket, and has shown the ability to sidestep and step up to avoid pressure, as well as escape the pocket while under duress. He has a slight tendency to drift to his right in the pocket, and could display better situational awareness when backed up near his end zone.
As a runner, Hall is a good athlete for the position, with the ability to make LBs miss in space. Hall’s speed allows him to escape the pocket effectively on scrambles. On designed runs, Hall can execute option plays while manipulating defenders, and can read the blockers and space in front of him to make correct cuts. Hall will protect himself and go down easily to minimize contact, but can turn it on and will take contact with the game on the line.
projected role with the Vikings
Overall, Jaren Hall has a game that shows he is significantly developed in the mental side of the game. His footwork and process is generally clean, and he demonstrates an understanding of coverages on tape. That’s ideal for a player who might be slotted for a backup role. He should be able to contribute early on in the mental side of things and grow even further into becoming a high-level football mind.
As a quarterback, Hall has some deficiencies, mostly due to his size, that lead to questions about whether or not he can be a true starter in the NFL. Hall is certainly more talented than other Vikings backups, like Nick Mullens or Sean Mannion. With good arm strength, accuracy, and a quick trigger, Hall operated an offense very similar to Minnesota’s at BYU. However, Hall lacks the elite arm strength and downfield accuracy that the best QBs in the league have. His lack of aggression combines to that to help limit his ceiling, which means it’s very unlikely Hall will ever become an improvement at the position over Kirk Cousins.
It should also be noted that Hall accomplished what he did in college much later than players typically do. To his credit, he was excellent in both years as a starter at BYU, and he was previously stuck behind a very talented player, but it is important to remember that he excelled as a 23- and 24-year old playing against mostly 19-, 20-, and 21-year olds. That age and maturity gap matters.
In Jaren Hall, the Vikings are getting a player who I believe has a very good chance to stick as a backup in the NFL. He has the talent to serve as a stopgap option if the Vikings are unable or unwilling to keep Kirk Cousins in 2024 and beyond. Hall also has the chance to overcome some of his deficiencies and become a bona fide NFL starter as Drew Brees and Russell Wilson have before him, but I think it is most likely he will be limited enough to remain as a career backup.
