EAGAN, Minnesota — The last time Brett Hundley threw an NFL pass in Minnesota, he had taken over for an injured Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay’s 2017 game at U.S. Bank Stadium. Now, Hundley is back and looking for a job.
Hundley, who has been well traveled since being selected in the fifth round of the 2015 draft by the Packers, took part Friday in the first day of a two-day Vikings rookie minicamp. He was one of two tryout quarterbacks on the field, the other Patrick O’Brien, a rookie from Washington.
“I spent a lot of time on him coming out of the draft,’’ said Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, Cleveland’s quarterbacks coach in 2015. “I’ve always been intrigued by him as a quarterback in this league. He’s kind of bounced around, been in some spots, been coached up well, you can tell in the meeting room.”
After throwing just 11 passes in his first two seasons and five games with the Packers, Hundley was called upon in Week 6 in 2017 when Rodgers was hit late in the first quarter by Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr and suffered a broken collarbone. Huntley took over for the remainder of the 23-10 loss and started nine of the last 10 games that season,
Since than, Hundley has been with Seattle in 2018, Arizona from 2019-20 and with Indianapolis in 2021. Over the past four seasons, he has played in just three games without a start and thrown 11 passes.
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Quarterbacks on Minnesota’s roster are starter Kirk Cousins, Sean Mannion, Kellen Mond and Nate Stanley. O’Connell said Hundley and O’Brien will “compete and we’ll see how everything shakes out.”
Of the 42 at the minicamp, 17 are tryout players. Others include defensive back Coney Durr from Minnesota and offensive lineman Hunter Toppel from Minnesota State Mankato.
No bye after London
When the Vikings previously went to London, they had a bye after a Week 4 game there in 2013 and a bye after a Week 8 game there in 2017. But they won’t have a bye immediately after facing New Orleans in London in Week 4 on Oct. 2.
O’Connell said the Vikings had asked the NFL to move their bye week until later in the season. So they will play Chicago at home Oct. 9 and are at Miami on Oct. 16 before having a bye in Week 7.
“Internally here we had a lot of discussions about whether we would request that or not from the league and just nowadays, knowing where we want to go with this football team to think about a Week 5 bye, although it might help in the short term coming off a trip like that, playing 13 games in a row before possibly playing some bonus games on top of that, that can be really taxing on (players),’’ O’Connell said. “So what we wanted to try to do is get the bye a little bit later. … We were very thankful for the league for that.”
Lowe officially signs
The Vikings on Friday signed sixth-round pick Vederian Lowe, who had agreed to terms Thursday. Lowe, a tackle from Illinois, didn’t sign Thursday along with five other draft picks because he had a flight delay coming to Minnesota.
Lowe got a four-year, $3.86 million contract with signing bonus of $197,873 and will count $754,468 on the 2022 cap.
The Vikings, who had 10 picks in last month’s NFL draft, signed on Thursday selections Lewis Cine, Esezi Otomewo, Ty Chandler, Jalen Nailor and Nick Muse. Starting the rookie minicamp under injury protection agreements were cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. and guard Ed Ingram, both second-round picks, third-round linebacker Brian Asamoah and fourth-round cornerback Akayleb Evans.
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Booth expects to get his contract “wrapped up soon.” He is not doing any drills in the minicamp due to undergoing hernia surgery in March.
“Sadly, it’s protocol we have to follow,’’ Booth said. “I wish I could be out there, but just the changing direction, that’s really it. Straight-line I feel good. I’ll be ready in a couple weeks”
O’Connell said Booth is “really close” to being ready but the Vikings “want to make sure” that when he practices he “physically feels great.”
Briefly
O’Connell will throw out the first pitch before Saturday night’s Twins game against Cleveland and will have players from the minicamp attend the game. He wants to get them “acclimated to the local sports scene.” … The Vikings signed nine undrafted free agents before Friday’s practice: kicker Gabe Brkic, defensive back Mike Brown, receiver Thomas Hennigan, running back Bryant Koback, linebackers Luiji Vilain and Zach McCloud, center Josh Sokol, defensive tackle Tyarise Stevenson and punter Ryan Wright. … Minnesota’s third preseason game at Denver has been set for Aug. 27 at 8 p.m. Dates haven’t been set for the first two games, at Las Vegas and home against San Francisco.
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