EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings' quarterback situation appears very fluid after the club cut ties with both second-year signal caller Kellen Mond and veteran backup Sean Mannion.
Both cuts happened Tuesday as teams around league needed to get their rosters down to 53 players.
Many scouts were high on Mond's athletic ability and potential coming out of Texas A&M, but he never seemed to gain any traction in Minnesota after being selected in the third round of last year's draft. He was even publicly disrespected by former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, who refused to start him in a meaningless game against Chicago to end the 2021-22 season.
Mannion was brought back to compete with Mond for the backup quarterback position, but it became clear last week that the Vikings were not comfortable with their backup quarterback situation when the club traded for Raiders QB Nick Mullens last week.
Mond wasn't the only player from the 2021 NFL Draft to be released on Tuesday as the team cut ties with linebackers Chazz Surratt and Janarius Robinson, guard Wyatt Davis, tight end Zach Davidson and defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman. There's still a chance a few of these players clear waivers and are signed onto the 16-player practice squad, but each team will get a chance to sign them before Minnesota can attempt to bring them back.
The Vikings also added defensive tackle Ross Blacklock in a trade with the Houston Texans, and shipped offensive lineman Jesse Davis to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Here's a list of the players the Vikings released on Tuesday:
- Kellen Mond, quarterback
- Sean Mannion, quarterback
- Nate Hairston, cornerback
- Parry Nickerson, cornerback
- Mike Brown, safety
- Dan Chisena, wide receiver
- Zach Davidson, tight end
- Wyatt Davis, offensive guard
- Myles Dorn, safety
- Kyle Hinton, offensive guard
- Trishton Jackson, wide receiver
- Bryant Koback, running back
- William Kwenkeu, linebacker
- Blake Lynch, linebacker
- Zach McCloud, linebacker
- Nick Muse, tight end
- Janarius Robinson, linebacker
- T.J. Smith, defensive lineman
- Josh Sokol, center
- Chazz Surratt, linebacker
- Jaylen Twyman, defensive tackle
- Armon Watts, defensive lineman
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