Inside The Vikings

One Former Vikings Third-Rounder Intercepts Another in HOF Game

In ex-Vikings news, Kellen Mond threw a pick right to Chazz Surratt in the NFL's preseason opener.
Will Ragatz|
One Former Vikings Third-Rounder Intercepts Another in HOF Game
One Former Vikings Third-Rounder Intercepts Another in HOF Game

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Minnesota Vikings

Call it 2021 Vikings third-round pick on 2021 Vikings third-round pick crime.

In the first half of the Hall of Fame Game — the NFL's preseason opener in Canton, OH on Thursday night — Browns quarterback Kellen Mond threw an interception directly into the hands of Jets linebacker Chazz Surratt.

What a world.

It was just two years ago when the Vikings took Mond and Surratt in the same round of the same draft. Mond, a QB out of Texas A&M, was the 66th overall pick. Surratt, a raw, athletic linebacker out of North Carolina, was taken 12 spots later at No. 78.

Neither made it to a second season with the franchise. 

The 2021 draft was the final one for the Rick Spielman-Mike Zimmer regime, as Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell were hired as their replacements following that season. Thus, it wasn't too shocking to see the new regime part ways with many players from the previous one.

Mond struggled mightily in two preseasons and drew an infamously brutal quote from Zimmer towards the end of his rookie season. Surratt was also a pretty instant bust. Those two, along with fellow third-round draftee Wyatt Davis, were cut before the start of the 2022 campaign. Out of the four picks Spielman and company made in that 2021 third round, only Patrick Jones II is still on the roster today.

To be fair, Spielman did select Christian Darrisaw in the first round that year, which was a home-run pick. But to have four third-round selections (two of which were gained in a first-round trade back) and completely whiff on three of them is a tough look.

That wasn't a great throw by Mond, but he did finish 13 of 19 for 92 yards with a touchdown and the INT in the first half. And maybe Surratt is starting to figure things out in New York?

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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