The Minnesota Vikings needed to find a quarterback of the future and they selected on with the 164th pick in the 2023 NFL draft in BYU quarterback Jaren Hall.
A dual-threat quarterback, Hall is a multi-year starter for the Cougars and was successful in making two bowl games as a starting quarterback. He possesses a lot of talent, but there are some major question marks.
What did the Vikings get in Hall? Let’s dive into the film to understand what he can be in the National Football League.
Background
A two-year starter for the Cougars, Hall was a successful starting quarterback for the Cougars. He finished his career with a near 5:1 touchdown: interception ratio and was really good when healthy.
Hall is a relatively older prospect at 25 years old. He did spend the last five seasons at BYU but he did the traditional Mormon mission right out of high school. Right after finishing his mission, Hall enrolled in classes.
Hall isn’t just a football player, he is also a baseball player. Over the course of two seasons with the Cougars baseball team, Hall gathered 12 hits in 51 at bats with two home runs and 11 runs batted in.
Pro style offense
The offense that Hall played in at BYU was very similar to the offense that Kevin O’Connell runs in Minnesota. It’s one of the reasons that makes him a really good scheme fit. Having that in his back pocket will make his transition to the NFL that much easier because he’s run so many pro concepts.
At BYU, they asked him to operate the offense at an NFL level and he did so in droves. He would make difficult throws in multiple situations.
One of the one that he’s run a lot is dagger. The outside receiver runs a dig route with the inside receiver clearing out the safety. This is a very common play in the NFL and the dig is almost always open. The difficulty here is that you need to hit the window with anticipation because if you are late, you could be in for a world of hurt.
It’s not just dagger that he runs, leak is a play that he’s consistent with as well. Y-leak is a very common play in the NFL where your Y (tight end most likely) feigns a block and sneaks out into a route. It’s very common in zone-rushing offenses because the tight end climbs to the second level often.
The Cougars ran the exact same version that the San Francisco 49ers ran on Thursday night football against the Seattle Seahawks. Hall pump fakes to both flats and hits the tight end for an easy touchdown.
Hall also has the ability to layer the ball over defenders on the second level. This is needed on crossing routes and on smash concepts (corner route from the slot, hitch on the outside). As a baseball player, being able to throw at both different speeds and arm angles is commonplace. He does so regularly and this clip shows as much.
The concept is called sail. The outside receiver runs a go route with the slot hitting a corner route. On this play, the shallow defenders have enough depth where the target is much smaller than you would think. Hall layers it beautifully and hits his receiver without issue.
You also need to make throws to the boundary with placement and velocity. Hall doesn’t have a howitzer of an arm, but does so well in the intermediate areas of the field. I think a lot of that has to do with his baseball background.
From the far hash (which is twice as wide in college, Hall hits this out with anticipation and quality ball placement. This isn’t a throw that you make all the time in the NFL, but you do need to be able to make it. Hall can do so without hesitation.
This offense also does quite a bit of boot action. O’Connell calls these plays for Cousins regularly and the creativity he can use with Hall on bootlegs is boundless.
What’s really unique about how BYU does these bootlegs is that Hall is essentially doing the play-action himself. He stands in the pocket for a second before going into the bootleg. This holds the linebackers just enough before he leaves the pocket. When under control, Hall can throw on the run with the best of them, hitting his mark with accuracy and proper placement, even across his body.
Ability to create
The NFL asks quarterbacks to do a lot within structure, but being able to create outside of it is key to taking things to a new level.
You don’t have to be a great runner like Lamar Jackson, but rather maneuver around pressure and attack down the field. Hall has shown the ability to do just that.
It’s two-fold with Hall. BYU would structure running plays for him and Hall would take a quarterback draw and make things happen with it.
Hall also has the ability with is vision to know that it’s not there in the passing game to take advantage of open space with his legs. He doesn’t love to do that, but he’s more than willing to gash the defense when given the opportunity.
It isn’t just on the run that Hall can thrive. He does so as well in the passing game. When Hall is forced out of the pocket, he is looking to attack down the field. With his baseball background, throwing across his body isn’t foreign to him and he can hit those throws with accuracy.
Let’s go back to his rushing ability. He’s got the athletic ability to eat up yards, but he can also breakout long runs on occasion. Against Arizona in 2021, he gashed them in a major way.
Handling pressure is inconsistent
This is the area of his game that is the most concerning is his ability to handle pressure. He doesn’t have the best track record in doing so. This past season, Hall completed 26-of-78 passes for 380 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions. Those numbers are, quite frankly, bad.
He gets flustered in the pocket too often and when he does maneuver, he can make poor decisions. This throw against Boise State was the one that I think the Vikings brass asked him about where his receiver ran the wrong route and he shouldered the blame.
This from director/college scouting Mike Sholiton: At the combine, the Vikings showed QB Jaren Hall a BYU play where they knew the WR ran the wrong route. "We were trying to give him a chance to say, 'This player was wrong.' All he was wiling to say is. 'I got to make it right.'"
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) April 29, 2023
That rep was rough, but it’s not the only example of him not thriving under pressure. When maneuvering the pocket, Hall doesn’t do so in the best way. He drifts often to avoid pressure and in doing so, doesn’t reset his feet. That will cause the ball to be thrown inaccurately as shown below. He gets his base too wide and sails it too high, nearly resulting in an interception.
This rep is very frustrating, but also smart at the same time. It’s an odd one because he doesn’t try to escape the collapsing pocket with his athleticism, but instead just chucks it to the sidelines. It gets there, but with Hall falling away from the play, it’s not an ideal scenario.
He does show the ability to be successful under pressure, which is what makes his evaluation frustrating. This play has the pressure coming on a zone blitz. After the play-action fake, Hall slides in the pocket and steps into a throw to the tight end. It’s borderline ill-advised, but the placement is perfect so it doesn’t matter. When Hall has his feet underneath him, he can make these throws consistently.
You can also see him handle pressure in other ways. Against East Carolina, the Cougars ran a lot of empty to spread out the Pirates. They countered with a lot of cover-0 looks and blitzed off of it. Hall slides the protection to the right and hits the hot route with precision. They don’t get the first down on 3rd and 10, but he set themselves up for an easy fourth down conversion.
Arm talent is there
When you talk about Hall’s potential, the first thing that jumps off the page is his arm talent. He doesn’t have a cannon for an arm, but he can make every throw you need him to.
With his arm talent, one of the more impressive things he can do is drop it in a bucket. He does so better than anyone in this class and it’s incredibly consistent. Deep balls are his calling card and he drops it in perfectly with consistency.
New #Vikings developmental QB Jaren Hall is a poised dual-threat player who had 51 TD passes, 11 INTs, and 655 rushing yards over the past two seasons at BYU. Well worth a fifth-rounder. pic.twitter.com/oyGbt5IQOD
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) April 29, 2023
While it is what he’s best at, it isn’t just the deep ball that Hall thrives with. He can put the ball on the money in a lot of situations. Placement is excellent with Hall and it’s on all levels of the field. This fade route is an excellent of example of dropping it in the bucket on the intermediate level.
Hall is great throwing from the far hash, but he can do it from anywhere. This is a simple fade-stop route. You throw it on the back shoulder and the receiver takes advantage of the cornerback with his back turned for an easy gain. Aaron Rodgers did this for years with Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams.
It’s not just the harder throws that Hall can make. The easy ones are evident as well. Placement is key to maximize how easy the catch is along with keeping the defender away from attacking the ball.
This is just a simple crossing route, but Hall displays exactly what you want to see: poise, calm demeanor in the pocket, smooth mechanics and a well placed football for the receiver.
What is Hall's outlook?
Let’s start with the ceiling.
Hall’s ceiling is a capable starting quarterback in the National Football League. He has all the tools you want and need in a franchise quarterback. More than capable arm talent, mobility, poise and ball placement. On top of all that, he has really good leadership skills which is what you want to see from your quarterback.
That’s all really good, but there is a reason why he fell to round five. Hall is 25 years old, struggles under pressure and isn’t consistent with his accuracy. Yes, there are a lot of examples of him making throws with great placement, but the consistency is not even close to being starting caliber.
Can he grow and become more consistent? Absolutely, but the reason why he went in round five is because that’s not an extremely likely outcome. He is likely going to become current-day Andy Dalton: a fringe starter that can come in and win you games, but isn’t someone you want as the future of your franchise.
Even if his likely outcome is Dalton, this is a great dart to throw, especially since the fit is seamless. If there was one quarterback from this class that I would bet on after the top four, it’s Hall.
