Vikings keeping three QBs for 2021 season is no guarantee

It’s very possible that the Minnesota Vikings could roll into the 2021 season with Kirk Cousins and Kellen Mond as the only two quarterbacks on their roster.

When the Minnesota Vikings step onto the field in Week 1 of the 2021 season, we know that, barring injury, Kirk Cousins and Kellen Mond will be a part of the team’s roster.

With Mond being a rookie, some might assume that the Vikings will also carry a third quarterback on their roster for the 2021 campaign. However, that might not end up being the case.

Minnesota has kept just two quarterbacks on their active roster during each of the last two years and this could be the path they take again next season.

How many quarterbacks will the Minnesota Vikings keep on their final 2021 roster?

Currently, behind Cousins on the Vikings’ quarterback depth chart is Mond, Jake Browning, and Nate Stanley.

Mond seems like a lock to make the final roster since the team just spent a third-round pick on him in this year’s NFL Draft. Browning and Stanley, however, are the two big question marks.

Minnesota play-by-play announcer Paul Allen recently predicted that the team will keep Cousins, Mond, and “maybe” a third quarterback on their final 2021 roster.

Some might think it would be best for the Vikings to keep a third signal-caller on their 2021 roster since Mond is a rookie. But neither Browning or Stanley have thrown a pass in a regular-season game, so it’s not like they’re just sitting around with a ton of experience.

Due to all of the cancellations related to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Stanley hasn’t even attempted a pass in a preseason game.

In the past, Minnesota kept three quarterbacks on their final roster in 2014, 2015, and 2018. But in each of these instances, at least one of the two backups had starting experience. Other than Cousins, no other Vikings passer on the team’s current roster has started a regular-season game.

In order for Stanley or Browning to make it past Minnesota’s final cuts this year, they will likely have to blow their expectations out of the water during training camp and in the preseason. And then even if one of them is able to accomplish this, the Vikings still might want to keep them on their practice squad instead of the active roster.

This is certainly one of the more intriguing decisions Minnesota will have to make this summer. The choice will also become even more difficult to make for the Vikings if Mond struggles in training camp and during the preseason.