Going into the final preseason game, the Minnesota Vikings had a lot of players who could earn their way onto the 53-man roster. One of those was quarterback Jaren Hall.
In the first preseason game, Hall was brutal. He struggled in every facet over his first three possessions and slightly rebounded to lead the game-winning drive against the Las Vegas Raiders.
That rebound was strong against the Cleveland Browns in the second preseason game. Hall only threw five passes but completed four of them for 84 yards and two touchdowns. He snagged a perfect passer rating in the process.
Jaren Hall stands out vs. Eagles
That leads us to his performance against the Philadelphia Eagles. In a 26-3 win, Hall was excellent He completed 17-of-25 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns. It was less about the stats than it is about how Hall looked under center.
Head coach Kevin O'Connell spoke very highly about Hall's performance.
“Yeah, I thought he did a great job just coming out. He was efficient. He was playing fast, put the ball in play, made some really good decisions. I think at halftime, we were seven-of-nine on third down. I thought [Vikings QB] Jaren [Hall], for a guy that hadn’t gotten a ton of snaps in the preseason to play a significant amount of time and start a game, I thought he did a really nice job, and I’m proud of Jaren. He’s really put a lot of work in that nobody really gets to see throughout the offseason. So really, really nice performance from him today, and something that I think he should be really proud of for sure.”
This was a performance that Hall needed if he wanted a chance to make the roster. With the third quarterback rule changing once again to allow a practice squad elevation to be the 46th player to dress, the Vikings could try to sneak him onto the practice squad.
That might prove to be impossible with his performance the last two weeks. If the Vikings subject Hall to waivers, he might not make it back to the Vikings. They lost quarterback Tyler Thigpen to that process back in the Brad Childress era. O'Connell talked about the difficulties with trying to sneak Hall past waivers.
“That’s part of it, Ben, because you know, everybody’s going to be aware of the good things Jaren did, and you want to, but you also want to have a real evaluation of a guy that’s really been in our system now, going on his second season, you could see just the comfort he had early on in the game, the growth from last year to now, where he’s at just running our system and playing quarterback and moving the team and five straight scoring drives, I think, to start the day for him, getting points. And that’s what playing quarterback in this league is all about. It’s not necessarily trying to force and make a play, as much as [it’s] just make the right play and just keep stacking good decisions, throwing good, you know, throwing with timing and anticipation, rhythm, and you move the team. And that’s what he did. And so I’m sure, you know, maybe it’s the former quarterback in me that wants to make sure guys always feel like they get real opportunities in our offense. But, that’s part of it, though, is knowing that you know other people are going to see your good players doing some good things. And [Vikings QB] Jaren [Hall] certainly had a good day.”
Hall might have played his way onto the active roster on Saturday.
