5 surprising candidates to make the Vikings 53-man roster in 2022

Sean Mannion – QB

Sean Mannion seems to be the player that never goes away. The Vikings brought back the quarterback on another one-year deal this offseason despite a change in leadership, which gives them a backup option in the event Kellen Mond doesn’t make the right progress on and off the field this summer.

It’s unlikely that Minnesota will take through three quarterbacks onto their roster given how reliable Kirk Cousins has been on the health front since joining the franchise. All hope is not lost where Mond is concerned despite some damning assessments from Mike Zimmer in 2021, but the Vikings re-signed Mannion as a contingency plan in any case.

Mannion will never be a productive starter. But what he can do is provide further competition in training camp that could potentially light a fire under Mond at long last.

If Mannion ends up outperforming Mond in camp, the Vikings will be left with a real dilemma.

Do they take three signal-callers through onto the roster?

Or do they cut the Mond experiment short way ahead of time?

Mannion’s limitations are evident. Although it would be shocking to see him preferred to Mond, it’s a possibility and the new regime has no emotional connection to the Texas A&M product whatsoever.