Texas A&M Football: Don’t worry about Kellen Mond’s slow NFL start

The primary headliner in this year’s NFL Draft for the Texas A&M Football team was the Aggies’ quarterback from the past three seasons in Kellen Mond. Mond was never a Heisman-contending quarterback, but he was one of the most reliable long-term starters at that level.

In fact, while a superstar quarterback would have likely left after a couple of seasons, the Aggies had Mond for four. This allowed him to slowly and consistently become one of Texas A&M’s best quarterbacks of all time.

His consistency allowed him an opportunity to be selected in the 2021 NFL Draft, where he was picked up at the beginning of the third round by the Minnesota Vikings. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve had a chance to get our first look at Mond in the preseason.

Former Texas A&M Football quarterback Kellen Mond has had disappointing early performances

Below, you’ll see Kellen Mond’s stat lines from each of the two preseason games that he has participated in.

• 6-16, 63 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
• 6-12, 61 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT

To put a word to it, his performances have been disappointing. Not terrible to the point where fans are concerned, just slightly worse than expected. Mond hasn’t really given fans much to be excited about in the small sample that we’ve seen.

The surprising part here is that Mond has been the Vikings’ best quarterback in the preseason. Jake Browning has a comparable completion percentage with zero touchdowns and a single interception, while Cousins has hardly played. Even when Cousins has been in the game, he’s been inefficient at worst.

If you’re a Texas A&M Football fan watching Mond, you don’t have much to worry about. Vikings fans, on the other hand, cannot say the same. These quarterbacks’ offensive struggles seem like more of a sign that Minnesota’s offense is low on talent, especially when it comes to depth. The team has mustered up just 16 points in its two contests thus far.

In this offense, Mond has done everything that you’d expect from him in a poor offensive scheme. He has been a safe passer, throwing more incompletions than dangerous passes. His completion percentage is low but it’s the preseason — he’s still learning the team’s playbook and forming connections with the players.

The positive side of this is that the Vikings aren’t going to start Mond immediately. The team still has Cousins on a contract that once made him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. Mond will have time to learn behind one of the more consistent veterans of this league before getting his opportunity.