Vikings still deciding if Nick Mullens will play against Broncos

Having been acquired by the Minnesota Vikings during the week, we’re not sure whether or not quarterback Nick Mullens will see any action for the team in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Denver Broncos. Apparently, at this point the team doesn’t know, either. . .or, if they do know, they’re just not telling.

In his press conference today, head coach Kevin O’Connell said that the team was still in the process of determining whether or not Mullens would play on Saturday night. He almost certainly hasn’t had enough time to really digest the playbook or anything, but the team might want to get him on the field anyway.

I hope they don’t.

Let’s be honest. . .there’s just about no upside to Mullens taking the field this Saturday night. Mullens was brought in to be the backup to Kirk Cousins, obviously, and he’s not going to be out there with any of the guys he’d be on the field with in the event that Cousins were to get hurt. No Justin Jefferson, no Adam Thielen, no K.J. Osborn, no Dalvin Cook. . .he’s going to get a chance to build chemistry with those guys in practice. He doesn’t need to be out there throwing to Trishton Jackson, Jalen Nailor, and Myron Mitchell behind the second or third-string offensive line.

All it would take is for one misstep from Mullens or from someone else in Saturday’s game to put the Vikings right back where they were when this week started as far as their quarterback situation. I think I can state with a reasonable level of certainty that isn’t something that any of us want to see.

The right answer for the Vikings, in my opinion, would be to let Kellen Mond play every single snap in this one. Good, bad, ugly, indifferent, whatever. This team needs to determine whether or not Mond is worth using a practice squad slot on, because they’ve made it clear that they don’t expect him to contribute this season with the Mullens trade. At this point, I don’t think Mond or Sean Mannion will be on the 53-man roster, but only one of them stands an outside chance of developing into something going forward.

Do you think the Vikings will play Nick Mullens on Saturday night, folks? Do you think they should play him?