The Minnesota Vikings need to find a quarterback of the future. It needs to be the top priority this offseason. Kirk Cousins offered to take a “discount” with a smaller salary than what Daniel Jones got at $40 million per season from the New York Giants, but he wanted to have both 2024 and 2025 fully guaranteed in return. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said thanks but no thanks and restructured his contract instead.
The 2023 NFL draft only 16 days away, and the Vikings will be looking at getting their next starting quarterback. With their selection coming at 23rd overall, there is a high likelihood that the top quarterbacks are all gone. If that’s the case, taking a flier on a mid-round option would be a smart option. Even if it doesn’t end up working out, that’s okay. These are the calculated dart throws that you should be taking.
That player should be Jaren Hall.
The other 25-year-old quarterback in this class, Hall was a recruit in the 2016 class and served a two year Mormon mission before arriving on campus in 2018. Because of the two years off, Hall is a younger 25 than Hendon Hooker. Pair that with the draft capital needed to acquire them and Hooker coming off of a torn ACL, which is the main basis of the argument before you get to the tape.
Arm talent
Hall is a talented football player, but arm talent is a mixed bag. He doesn’t have elite level arm strength, but he drops it into a bucket better than anyone in this draft class. Hall has great accuracy down the field and shows it off in droves. Whether it be a go route, post, or a fade like below, Hall can hit them and take advantage of defenses.
The back-shoulder throw that Aaron Rodgers made popular is a great way to maximize your effectiveness down the field, especially with receivers who can attack vertically down the field. Hall can make these throws relatively easily and consistently.
Overall, Hall is an accurate quarterback. He had an adjusted accuracy percentage of 75.9% this past season according to Pro Football Focus. He excels both out of the shotgun and under center, including out of traditional play-action. Here, Hall has a traditional dropback out of shotgun and hits the receiver with perfect ball placement.
Hall’s arm talent includes the ability to pass on the run. While he can run well with his athleticism, Hall is looking to throw first, something that can be a major issue with quarterbacks that can run. On this play, he has to bail out of the pocket and hits his receiver with a throw across his body. He does it perfectly.
You can also scheme up boot action. BYU did so but had Hall stay in the pocket for a second before doing his boot action. He did so quite well, and that second in the pocket allowed the Cougars to take advantage of a pass rush that would attack too far upfield.
The last piece of his arm talent that needs to be discussed is how Hall can make timing routes to the outside with ease. In college, the hash marks are much wider than they are in the pros, allowing offenses to better manipulate space. Those same hash marks will also ask quarterbacks to make really difficult opposite hash throws. Hall can do that even without top-end arm strength.
Pro style concepts
Not only can he drop it in a bucket, Hall can layer throws. Pro-style concepts are not foreign to Hall. BYU runs a lot of max protect shots that have been consistent with the Vikings offenses across the last few seasons. It’s not just that he has played with those concepts, but rather that he’s played well. One thing that stands out is how he layers the football over defenders.
If you’ve watched any wide zone system offenses, you’ve seen Y-leak. That is a play where the offense will utilize play-action and get the tight end to fake a block while leaking him into a passing route. The San Francisco 49ers used this exact double-fake leak play in a Thursday night game late in the regular season against the Seattle Seahawks, and the Cougars get an easy touchdown against the Ducks here.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows with Hall, though. Even though his last two seasons as a starter had Hall with a 51:11 touchdown to interception ratio, he isn’t perfect with when it comes to identifying coverages. He goes through progressions, but he has a tendency to miss defenders. Consistency is also a big issue.
This is what my scouting report had to say about Hall:
The biggest concern for Hall is consistency. He can do everything, but trusting him to do it on every play is a tough ask. He struggles keeping his composure in the pocket and rushes his mechanics. It causes him to miss high and results in turnovers.
While Hall is good with progressions as a whole, he misses defenders dropping in coverage far too often and makes poor throws.
Without a drop off of talent at the position, you have to decide which player you want to take a chance on. For me, that guy is Jaren Hall. He’s got that it factor.
