Former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson spent some time earlier this year working with new Minnesota Vikings quarterback, Kellen Mond.
It’s difficult to determine what the expectations should be for quarterback Kellen Mond during his career with the Minnesota Vikings since his tenure with the team just started less than a month ago.
As a third-round pick, Mond won’t be asked by the Vikings to take over as their starter next season and maybe not the 2022 campaign either. He should have plenty of time to refine his game and improve his skill-set during his first few years in Minnesota.
Despite falling to the third round of the 2021 draft, Mond is still highly regarded by several NFL talent evaluators. Among those who believe the Vikings’ new quarterback has what it takes to succeed is former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson and his career .205 winning percentage.
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Since leading the Browns to a whopping three wins in two-and-a-half seasons, Jackson hasn’t been on the NFL sidelines as a coach since 2018.
During his absence from the league, he has spent a bit of his time working with some of the top young college prospects, including Mond. Jackson spent time watching the current Minnesota quarterback go through drills during the House of Athlete Scouting Combine back in March.
The former Cleveland head coach was impressed with what he saw from Mond.
"“I think he’s the sleeper of the draft, and I’m not just saying that, I really feel that way.There’s not a throw that he can’t make. He has a very talented arm, he’s uber-intelligent. He has poise. He’s played in the SEC. He’s played for Jimbo Fisher, who I think has done a great job with quarterbacks. He has knowledge of the game and I think he’s going to really play well in the National Football League.”"
While Jackson was a massive failure as an NFL head coach, he has been able to experience some success as an offensive assistant during his time in the league. So his opinion shouldn’t be totally brushed to the side, but it shouldn’t be taken as gospel either.
What we can say about Jackson is that he’s spent almost two decades as a coach in the NFL, so he should have a good idea about what traits are necessary for a draft prospect to succeed in the league.
With Mond, it clearly sounds like Jackson believes the Vikings rookie will turn out to be one of the better quarterbacks to come out of this year’s draft class.
At the same time, Jackson is also the same guy who wasn’t in a rush to start Baker Mayfield as a rookie after the Browns selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. An injury allowed Mayfield to eventually find his way into Cleveland’s starting lineup in 2018 and it resulted in the franchise finishing with their highest win total since 2014.
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Jackson was only around for two of those victories though, since the Browns felt it was best to move on from him after their first eight games of the season. So at the very least, let’s just take what Jackson said about Mond with a grain of salt.