Among the training camp quarterback battles taking place this summer in the NFL, there is one that is flying a little bit under the radar. In Minnesota, new head coach Kevin O’Connell has declared an open competition for the job behind starter Kirk Cousins.
The two contestants in this battle? Last year’s third-round selection, Kellen Mond, and veteran Sean Mannion, who was the backup last season during Mond’s rookie campaign.
Last season, Mond was caught in the middle of a strained relationship between former head coach Mike Zimmer, and former general manager Rick Spielman. According to reports out of Minnesota, Zimmer wanted to address the defense when the Vikings were on the clock in the third round, but the general manager added the quarterback.
That led to friction between the coach and his rookie quarterback, and moments like this a year ago:
"Do you want to see Kellen Mond next week?"
"Not particularly."
Mike Zimmer is stone cold pic.twitter.com/KI1usresi7
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) January 3, 2022
Making matters worse, Mond contracted COVID-19 at the start of camp, which truly set him back in his development.
This season, however, the new head coach has been open about the competition for the backup job, and Mond has been splitting reps with Mannion during training camp.
With Cousins out of the lineup, dealing with his own bout with COVID, Mannion got the start on Sunday night in Minnesota’s first preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders. But it was Mond who turned in the better night. The second-year passer hit on 9 of 14 passes for 119 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
And perhaps inched closer to earning the backup job for the Vikings.
Mond started slowly, hitting on just two of his first seven passes. But then Minnesota faced a 4th and 5 near midfield. Las Vegas showed pressure pre-snap, but dropped eight into coverage. Minnesota dialed up a design that paired a Smash concept along the left side of the field, with a Shallow Cross design on the right.
Mond hung in the pocket well, before delivering a perfect strike on the corner route along the left sideline to move the chains:
Mond capped off the drive with this short touchdown strike, coming on a staple concept from the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay tree. In McVay’s terminology, this is the concept:
In Shanahan’s system, this is Stick Cougar:
Another Stick Cougar https://t.co/NWVqO0nR9m https://t.co/t8UHGK9aHg
— SyedSchemes (@syedschemes) August 14, 2022
Regardless of terminology, what is notable about how Mond runs this play is that the “seam” route he ends up throwing is the third read in both systems. The play tasks the QB with reading from the stick route on the left, to the under route from the inside trips receiver, and finally to the route he throws:
Mond really works this from the under to the seam, perhaps having ruled out the stick route pre-snap due to space on the field. With the ball on the left hashmark, he has more space to use attacking to the right. By working his eyes from inside to out, he also holds the underneath hole defender in place, before drilling in this throw for the touchdown.
Later in the fourth quarter, Mond hit on this design, reading out a Smash concept on the right before getting his eyes backside to the dig route:
What stands out about this play is that Mond’s eyes are tied perfectly to his feet. He opens to his right to read out the Smash concept, but seeing the coverage take those two routes away, he shifts his eyes — and feet — back to the left to hit the dig route. Again, this is the third read in the concept, and Mond is able to hit this perfectly.
A few plays later, the Vikings called the mirror image of this concept, and again Mond got himself to the dig route, this time with pressure in his face:
He capped off the night with his second touchdown pass, as he executes this out-and-up perfectly in the red zone, throwing the route with ideal timing and anticipation:
Mond started slowly, but as the game went on he demonstrated comfort in the Vikings’ offense. He worked deep into the progression on multiple plays, and his eyes were tied to his mind and feet as he did so, keeping him in position to hit those throws.
And as the game wore on, he perhaps inched closer to winning that backup job in Minnesota.