Who is QB2?

For depth, and to compete with Sloter. You never know what injuries will strike and at which positions. Remember when signing Kendall Wright and Tavarres King was supposed to push Laquon Treadwell's role on nearly identical contracts to Mannion's?


Actually, he's completely untested as an NFL starter, with one game started under his belt that went more like a preseason game. Outside of that game, he has zero gameday experience, just like Sloter.

So Mannion stinks during preseason play, has a below average arm, was a turnover machine back at college, stinks under pressure, looked terrible at practice (just like Sloter), and clearly wasn't valued by any other teams as a backup. But he's "a backup NFL QB"... so that's enough for you? Do we need any more red flags on this guy?

I'll predict that Mannion doesn't make the roster. Getting on the 90 man roster on a small one year deal doesn't mean that he's a lock to make the team. It's debatable whether Sloter will be a good backup, and I see you'll be arguing against him, but I think we'll see Mannion's true colors this preseason when he gets completely and totally outperformed by Sloter.

Laquon Treadwell is a first-round pick whose agent has pictures of Mike Zimmer, Rick Spielman and Satan having a pool party...there is no other feasible explanation.

Who's the turnover machine? Yeah, Mannion threw 54 picks in college. Because he was a four-year starter and Oregon State threw the ball quite a bit. 54 picks in 1800+ throws, 15 as a junior IN 600 throws! 46 throws a game. He threw 8 as a senior, in 453 throws. Mind you, this is at Oregon State, against Power 5 competition week in, and week out. Kyle Sloter threw 10 interceptions in 319 college attempts at Northern Colorado against powerhouses like Idaho State and Southern Utah.

Mannion stunk in preseason? Yep, against at least some starters, because Jared Goff was wrapped in bubble wrap behind glass that said "Do Not Break Until September!" on a shelf right next to Todd Gurley. So, yes, he had a bit more of a challenge than Kyle Sloter has had. But, a team with legit Super Bowl aspirations kept Sean Mannion as their number 2 QB all year, while the Vikings hid Kyle Sloter behind Trevor Siemian. And Mannion doesn't have "zero experience" outside his one career start (which is due to the complexities if mathematics-infinitely more than Kyle Sloter), he's played in 10 career games and thrown 19 passes in the others he has seen action in. Is that a lot? No, but seeing as how he is has another two years of just being around and learning than Kyle Sloter I would say their experience levels are not as comparable as you seem to think.

Mannion's on a small deal for one year? That one year deal pays him more than the one year Kyle Sloter has left on his deal.

The fact is, I don't know if there is a lick of difference between them. Sloter has a MASSIVE edge in mobility, while Mannion has more experience. It likely doesn't matter, Kirk Cousins has started 64 games in a row, and touching QBs is strictly verboten in today's NFL. But, if Kirk did go down, the most likely result of either of them seeing extended time is a Top 10 pick in the 2020 draft.

The point that remains though, and you have assidously avoided addressing, that having Kyle Sloter as the QB2 apparently doesn't give Mike Zimmer warm and fuzzy thoughts. The Vikings reached out to Bo Levi Mitchell. The Vikings offered Trevor Siemian a contract to return-and it wasn't to backup Sloter. The Vikings worked out AAF QBs. And, the Vikings signed Sean Mannion. Where there is that much smoke, there's got to be a fire.

One would think we could have at least gotten a ring out of a deal with the devil.... 

Yeah...

Okay, chill out people. Teams usually have 3-4 QBs in camp. Just to run the plays. Just because Mannion was signed doesn't mean he will be QB2 during the year. Just like it doesn't mean the end of Sloter. Talk about overreacting.

And if Mannion is cut before the season starts, he gets paid nothing.   People are making way more of this than need be.   And oh yeah, Keenum sucked until he played for the Vikings.   I'm not going to get my boobies in a bind because my team signed some backup QB that we don't even know if he will make the team.   

It was just a theory there buddy... Not sure where anybody implied he was God's gift to anybody.