J.J. McCarthy's replacement should keep the Vikings from making an unnecessary move

Although the Minnesota Vikings could trade for quarterback to replace the injured J.J. McCarthy, including for a familiar face in Joshua Dobbs, they do have a capable backup already on their roster in the veteran Nick Mullens. While they did add former Ole Miss star and Carolina Panthers backup Matt Corral in the immediate aftermath of McCarthy's season-ending injury, the Vikings should be alright.

It may be the Sam Darnold show for most of, if not all, the season. However, he tends to play the quarterback position with a greater sense of reckless abandon than I would ever like to see out of the guy leading my team out of the tunnel. More importantly, I have seen Mullens play over the last few years both in Minnesota and with Darnold's former team in the San Francisco 49ers and look decent.

I will not goes as far as to say the Vikings are starting the wrong former 49ers quarterback in this equation, but I do not sense the gap between Darnold and Mullen is all that much. Moreover, the Vikings do not need to tear away at the fabric of their team in what could be a trying year for them, especially if they have to trade for a backup quarterback when they already have one on the roster.

Then again, the Vikings did start four quarterbacks last season, including a rookie in Jaren Hall...

Minnesota Vikings already have J.J. McCarthy's replacement on roster

The good news for the Vikings is that Mullens has shown he can be a capable player in this league more often than not. This is not his first year in Minnesota. Thus, it is not his first foray into learning Kevin O'Connell's offensive system. The bad news is I am not sure general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah knows what he is doing when it comes to building a team. Will the Vikings even get to .500?

Unless something unthinkable happens, I am going to pick this team to finish fourth in the NFC North. Granted, this might be the best division in the NFC, top to bottom. While I have the Detroit Lions as a playoff lock, the Green Bay Packers an almost lock and the Chicago Bears as a serious playoff contender, where does that leave the Vikings? Probably looking up at all three of their rival's this year.

Truth be told, if Mullens is being asked to start a ton of games for the Vikings this season, something else went terribly wrong and this team has no shot of making the playoffs. He might be able to keep the team afloat with a spot start here and there, but Minnesota will be at a quarterbacking disadvantage with him under center even more so than trotting out Darnold every weekend this year.

I would still play as hard as I can if I were the Vikings, but I can understand that is is not their year at all.