Justin Jefferson makes strong comments about Nick Mullens
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell wouldn't commit to the idea of Nick Mullens as the starting quarterback the other day, but did so on Monday when he told reporters Mullens will start against the Detroit Lions in Week 16.Well, he's committing, for now.Either way, it's the right call and it's still strange O'Connell didn't […]
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell wouldn't commit to the idea of Nick Mullens as the starting quarterback the other day, but did so on Monday when he told reporters Mullens will start against the Detroit Lions in Week 16.
Well, he's committing, for now.
Either way, it's the right call and it's still strange O'Connell didn't commit after the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Mullens is easily the best healthy quarterback on the roster and while he did make some mistakes on Saturday, he didn't blow a 14-point fourth quarter lead and a seven-point lead with 3:48 left in the game.
Vikings star wideout, Justin Jefferson, saw through the stat line and made sure to let the media know as much after the game.
"Nick did a fantastic job today, especially with just a week of preparation of him being the starting quarterback," said Jefferson. "I feel like he came out today with confidence, and I feel like we’re all together, and he leaned on each one of us to help him throughout the game. He did a fantastic job…
"… Nick played outstanding the whole entire game, so we’ve just got to lean on that, think about the positives, go into tomorrow and the rest of the week fixing our mistakes, and be ready for the divisional game next week.”
It's a major vote of confidence from Jefferson, even if he's not going to say negative things aloud (although he did say the Vikings' losses are self-inflicted). He also took it a step further when asked about Mullens on NFL Network's The NFL Report podcast.
"Nick has been doing a great job of just learning from Kirk [Cousins]," Jefferson told Steve Wyche and James Palmer. "[Whether] it's being in the back of the huddle or walking through the plays like he's in the game. We always have that confidence in him, especially with our preparation that we have throughout the week.
"As people can see, he can make some throws [and] as a skill position, we're going to whatever we can to make his job a little easier."
Jefferson has a point about the preparation side of things. Mullens came into last week's game with very little playing time over the last two years and looked pretty good. Each week will allow him to build upon each performance and while it's a low ceiling, he has a high enough ceiling to where the Vikings can make the playoffs.
No one is saying he's the long-term answer – he just needs the defense to play well and the Vikings will have a chance to win games.
That all starts this week against the Detroit Lions. As unknown as Mullens is, at least Jefferson is around. That'll help any quarterback trying to carve his path in the NFL.
You can check out the episode with Jefferson, here.
