In an effort to shore up their backup quarterback situation, the Vikings acquired Nick Mullens from the Raiders on Monday for a 2024 conditional seventh-round draft pick.
The deal is pending Mullens passing a physical, the Vikings said in a news release.
The competition to back up Kirk Cousins between Sean Mannion and Kellen Mond has been among the most prominent position battles at training camp. Cousins has not played in either preseason game as Mond and Mannion have split the offensive snaps.
Mond, a 2021 third-round pick, appeared to make strides against the Raiders on Aug. 14, but the Vikings' 17-7 loss to the 49ers on Saturday night at home did little to assuage concerns. He followed up two second-half touchdown throws in Las Vegas with two interceptions against the 49ers.
Mullens completed seven of nine passes for 94 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings in the preseason opener. He was Raiders' third-string QB behind David Carr and Jarrett Stidham.
Originally an undrafted free agent by San Francisco in 2017, when Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was in the 49ers front office, Mullens started 16 games in three seasons there. Adofo-Mensah's Browns also signed Mullens in the middle of last season, and he started one game.
He is 5-12 as a starter, and has passed for 4,861 yards, 26 touchdowns and 22 interceptions with 64.6% completions in 20 career NFL games.
Asked Saturday night if he was comfortable with the team's backup quarterback situation, head coach Kevin O'Connell said: "Ultimately you would have loved to come out of the night feeling like, Shoot, they both moved the team and scored a lot of points, and we got a heck of a hard discussion and conversation ahead as a staff and as an organization."
He acknowledged that "the clock is going" ahead of the season opener on Sept. 11, and although the starters are "in a great spot" and "that's where our emphasis is really on, there's a lot of jobs we got to still allow to play themselves out so we feel good about the overall depth of our team and we'll certainly allow that to happen this week."
