Where do you stand on Jaren Hall?

SUMMARY

As a passer, Jaren Hall has excellent short accuracy, strong intermediate and mobile accuracy, and struggles with deep accuracy. He has adequate arm strength to make throws to the intermediate field, but his arm strength wanes if he is unable to get a proper base underneath him, leading to inaccurate passes and potential turnovers. Hall’s lack of height will lead to passes that are too high for receivers or batted at the line. Hall is an anticipation thrower who trusts his receivers to win one-on-one situations. Hall displays an understanding of coverages that allows him to anticipate throws, and often makes good pre-snap reads to put the offense in a strong position. Hall will have lapses where he trusts receivers too much or misreads the defensive structure.

From a technique standpoint, Hall has advanced footwork on dropbacks from shotgun and under center, and executes believable play fakes. Hall does not drift backwards in the pocket, and has shown the ability to sidestep and step up to avoid pressure, as well as escape the pocket while under duress. He has a slight tendency to drift to his right in the pocket, and could display better situational awareness when backed up near his end zone.

As a runner, Hall is a good athlete for the position, with the ability to make LBs miss in space. Hall’s speed allows him to escape the pocket effectively on scrambles. On designed runs, Hall can execute option plays while manipulating defenders, and can read the blockers and space in front of him to make correct cuts. Hall will protect himself and go down easily to minimize contact, but can turn it on and will take contact with the game on the line.

PROJECTED ROLE WITH THE VIKINGS

Overall, Jaren Hall has a game that shows he is significantly developed in the mental side of the game. His footwork and process is generally clean, and he demonstrates an understanding of coverages on tape. That’s ideal for a player who might be slotted for a backup role. He should be able to contribute early on in the mental side of things and grow even further into becoming a high-level football mind.

As a quarterback, Hall has some deficiencies, mostly due to his size, that lead to questions about whether or not he can be a true starter in the NFL. Hall is certainly more talented than other Vikings backups, like Nick Mullens or Sean Mannion. With good arm strength, accuracy, and a quick trigger, Hall operated an offense very similar to Minnesota’s at BYU. However, Hall lacks the elite arm strength and downfield accuracy that the best QBs in the league have. His lack of aggression combines to that to help limit his ceiling, which means it’s very unlikely Hall will ever become an improvement at the position over Kirk Cousins.

It should also be noted that Hall accomplished what he did in college much later than players typically do. To his credit, he was excellent in both years as a starter at BYU, and he was previously stuck behind a very talented player, but it is important to remember that he excelled as a 23- and 24-year old playing against mostly 19-, 20-, and 21-year olds. That age and maturity gap matters.

In Jaren Hall, the Vikings are getting a player who I believe has a very good chance to stick as a backup in the NFL. He has the talent to serve as a stopgap option if the Vikings are unable or unwilling to keep Kirk Cousins in 2024 and beyond. Hall also has the chance to overcome some of his deficiencies and become a bona fide NFL starter as Drew Brees and Russell Wilson have before him, but I think it is most likely he will be limited enough to remain as a career backup.