O'Connell Describes Quarterback Evaluation Plans at Vikings Bye
Mullens was acquired in a trade with Las Vegas in August 2022, so he's had the benefit of the most time around the system. Hall was selected in the fifth round and spent the entire preseason with Minnesota.
O'Connell hasn't decided on whether the team will stick with Dobbs or go with Mullens or Hall.
"We'll take a look," he said. "Nick, having been here the longest and the way he prepares week-in and week-out, getting him back healthy as an option gives us somebody we could potentially turn to who we know has great comfort in our offense, footwork, timing and the progression, the protection calls and all those things. But Jaren Hall, also in his limited work showed some real positives early on against Atlanta before getting knocked out of the game, and I do think what Josh Dobbs has been able to do, especially early on, getting out there and making plays at a significant level for us to win games there during a tough stretch without some of our best players in the huddle can't be discounted.
"So those are some of the things we're talking about – taking a look at what we could possibly do as coaches to enhance our offense and then ultimately looking at the personnel from the standpoint of what gives us the best chance to win," O'Connell added.
He and his coaching staff will take the next few days to evaluate Dobbs' full body of work. They also will keep in mind the offense is regaining star receiver Justin Jefferson, who was activated Tuesday to the 53-man roster after missing seven games with a hamstring injury.
"When you're looking at our skill group overall, I think the quarterback position needs to be evaluated to just figure out what we think gives us the best chance to win – both on individual skill sets of all three of those guys (Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson and K.J. Osborn) – and take a look at that for what's the best fit, right now, for our team? We're in the process of doing that. I don't think there's any particular timeline, but as a staff, we'll have some dialogue to ultimately figure out what we feel is best and then prepare accordingly."
