Seeking backup options behind Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings acquire quarterback Nick Mullens from Las Vegas Raiders

EAGAN, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings acquired quarterback Nick Mullens from the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday in exchange for a conditional 2024 draft pick, giving them an additional option behind starter Kirk Cousins amid an uneven summer for his incumbent backups.

Mullens will get a chance to unseat Sean Mannion and Kellen Mond, who have been competing for the job. Neither has stood out in training camp or in two preseason games, where they have split reps evenly. Coach Kevin O'Connell declined to endorse either of them after Saturday night's 17-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, during which they combined to complete 20 of 35 passes for 147 yards, with Mond throwing two interceptions.

«Ultimately you would have loved to come out of the night feeling like, shoot, they both moved the team and scored a lot of points and we've got a heck of a hard discussion and conversation ahead as a staff and as an organization,» O'Connell said Saturday night. «Although we didn't do that, I still think there were some real teachable moments and then some real moments where we'll be able to evaluate and kind of really look at where we are at that position as we kind of re-stack everything to go into this week to see how we need to allow those guys to compete.

»Because as we've talked about, in my mind the clock is going. Although I feel like our starters are in a great spot for September 11, and that's where our emphasis is really on, there's a lot of jobs that we have to still allow to play themselves out so we feel good about the overall depth of our team and we'll certainly allow that in practice this week."

Mullens started 16 games for the San Francisco 49ers from 2018-20, where he played in an offense similar to the one O'Connell is