Kellen Mond’s dad explains why QB was in Mike Zimmer’s doghouse

This is why Kellen Mond was placed in Mike Zimmer’s Minnesota Vikings doghouse last year.

Let’s just say Kellen Mond and Mike Zimmer were not finishing each others … sandwiches during his rookie season with the Minnesota Vikings.

Mond was a seasoned starter for years playing under Jimbo Fisher’s watch at Texas A&M. In his final year at College Station, the Aggies were one game away from reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time ever. Mond was picked by the Vikings in day two of the 2021 NFL Draft, but Mond’s father Kevin claims that the former head coach had it out for his son from the start.

Here is what Kevin Mond told Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press about this situation.

"“Kellen was in (Zimmer’s) doghouse from the start because of the draft & then No. 2 the COVID … He wasn’t going to give him the time & Zimmer not playing him at the end of the year (last game) was personally to me Zimmer just sticking his thumb at Spielman.”"

Zimmer and former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman were let go at the end of the season after the Vikings failed to qualify for the NFC playoffs yet again. Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah replaced the duo this offseason, respectively. With O’Connell being the former offensive coordinator with the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, this does give Mond’s camp hope.

Either way, things will be different in the Twin Cities for its beloved professional football franchise.

Kellen Mond’s father Kevin explains Mike Zimmer’s beef with his Vikings QB son

It is pretty clear that Zimmer did get along with hardly any of his quarterbacks. Mond may have been in his doghouse, but Zimmer did get into a not-so-playful celebratory post-game shoving match with Kirk Cousins. No matter the instigator, it was abundantly clear that Zimmer did not like that. All the while, his Vikings underachieved once again and that is why the Zimmer era is so over.

Even though Cousins should be the unquestioned starter Week 1 in Minneapolis, it is not like O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah drafted him either. While Minnesota should push for a playoff spot this year, it does not serve either new pillar of the Vikings organization to be overly committed to Cousins if he stinks. Cousins will have to screw up alright, but Mond can compete for them this fall.

Frankly, there were reasons why Mond was not the sixth quarterback taken in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He may have had ample starting experience in college, but did not really put it all together until his senior season, which was played during a COVID season. Mond does offer a ton of promise, but he has to earn his playing time, and not get reps by strictly playing daddyball.

No doubt, this is a big offseason for Mond to prove to everyone he can start games in this league.