How the Vikings can land Kellen Mond in the 2021 NFL Draft
By Adam Patrick
What might it take for the Minnesota Vikings to select former Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond in this year’s NFL Draft?
For the 2021 season, all indications are pointing to the Minnesota Vikings remaining with Kirk Cousins as their starting quarterback.
Behind Cousins on the depth chart is a different story for the Vikings though. Minnesota’s top backup for the last two years, Sean Mannion, hasn’t been re-signed yet, and the only other quarterbacks on the team’s roster are two guys that have never thrown an NFL pass in Nate Stanley and Jake Browning.
This would seem like a good year to use a mid-round draft pick on a young signal-caller who could be the backup behind Cousins in 2021 and then possibly replace him in 2022 or 2023.
Minnesota Vikings will likely have to trade up to land Kellen Mond in 2021 NFL Draft
One of the top mid-round quarterback prospects that the Vikings could be interested in this year is former Texas A&M passer Kellen Mond.
Of the passing prospects available in the 2021 draft, Mond is someone who was able to get a lot of actual on-field experience during his college career. In his four seasons at Texas A&M, Mond was a starter in 43 games.
In 10 games last year, he completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 2,282 yards, 19 touchdowns, and just three interceptions while also rushing for 294 yards and four more scores. Mond has good size at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, decent speed (4.62 time in the 40-yard dash), and impressive arm strength.
The Draft Network has him as the sixth-best quarterback prospect available in this year’s draft and NFLMockDraftDatabase.com has him projected to be selected in the third round.
Now, with Minnesota already having two picks in the third round, some might think they’re already set to use one of them on Mond. But quarterbacks with his potential tend to have a pretty high value on Day 2 of the draft, which might mean a team could look to add him in the second round instead of the third.
If the Vikings are truly set on adding this young passer to their roster, then figuring out a way to acquire a second-round pick is something they will likely have to do.
There are multiple ways Minnesota can go about doing this, but it just feels like a necessity in order for them to make sure they can draft Mond. Without a selection in the second round this year, the chances of the Vikings ending up with the former Texas A&M signal-caller don’t seem very high.