Nick Mullens Injury History & Analysis

Vikings QB Sam Darnold underwent an MRI on his knee that revealed no structural damage, according to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer. "He’s sore, but they are optimistic he plays against Green Bay" on Sunday, Glazer adds.

Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell announced Wednesday that QB Nick Mullens will start this weekend's finale vs. the Lions. "To me, Nick has been very effective moving the team," O'Connell said. "We've been very explosive as an offense when he's been in there. Nick knows the one area that we must focus on is possession of the football, not giving the football away." Mullens has tossed six INTs over the past four games but otherwise completed 67% of his passes at 8.8 yards per attempt with five TDs. He threw for 411 yards, two TDs, and four INTs against the Lions a couple of weeks ago and is at least an intriguing DFS tournament play this week.

The Vikings have announced that QB Jaren Hall will start over Nick Mullens this Sunday night against the Packers. That comes after Mullens tossed 4 INTs in a 6-point Week 16 loss to Detroit. HC Kevin O'Connell originally had Hall as the backup to Kirk Cousins and started the fifth-round rookie in the first game after Cousins' season-ending injury. But O'Connell then stuck with QB Joshua Dobbs even after Hall returned from his concussion, and then rolled out Mullens after Dobbs' 4-INT turn against Chicago. This week's move says O'Connell believes Hall to be a better option than Mullens. But the rookie clearly remains unproven. He has thrown just 10 regular-season passes. The preseason found him completing just 54.2% of his passes at 5.5 yards per attempt. Hall does bring above-average speed for the position and topped 300 rushing yards in each of his final two seasons at BYU. But starting a QB in what would be his first full NFL game would obviously be very risky. The bigger question is what the switch does to WR outlooks. We'd still start Justin Jefferson comfortably. K.J. Osborn, meanwhile, is tougher to like inside WR3 territory. (He already landed as a WR4 in our Week 17 rankings.)