Las Vegas Raiders Trade Quarterback Ahead of 2022 Season

By Brian Jones

The Las Vegas Raiders made a significant trade a little over two weeks before the 2022 NFL season begins. It was announced on Monday that the Raiders traded quarterback Nick Mullens to the Minnesota Vikings. In exchange for Mullens, the Vikings traded a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The trade is pending Mullens passing a physical. 

The Raiders weren't in need of a quarterback since they have Derek Carr and acquired Jarrett Stidham during the offseason. Mullens has a chance to be the backup QB for the Vikings as Sean Mannion and Kellen Mond have been competing for the job during training camp. On Saturday night, Mannion and Mond combined to complete 20 of 35 passes for 147 yards, with Mond throwing two interceptions. Kirk Cousins is the Vikings starting QB who signed a one-year, $35 million fully guaranteed contract extension during the offseason. 

"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," Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell said Saturday night, per ESPN. "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 restack everything to go into this week to see how we need to allow those guys to compete."

Mullens, 27, was originally signed by the San Francisco 49ers in 2017 as an undrafted free agent. He didn't see any action in 2017 as he was on the team's practice squad. In 2018, Mullens was promoted to the active roster after Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL and was placed on injured reserve. He played in eight games with eight starts and completed 64.2% of his passes while throwing for 2,277 yards, 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Mullens played in just one game in 2019 but played in 10 games with eight starts in 2020 due to Garoppolo suffering a leg injury. Mullens finished the season completing 64.7% of his passes for 2,437 yards, 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. 

In 2021, Mullens signed with the Philadelphia Eagles but was cut from the team before the season began. He joined the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 1 and played in one game, throwing for 147 yards and one touchdown against the Raiders. Mullens would eventually sign with the Raiders earlier this year. 

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