Nick Mullens' first 17 starts very comparable to Andrew Luck's
Nick Mullens has started 17 games in six years in the NFL. Believe it or not, his numbers in those 17 starts are very comparable to the numbers Andrew Luck posted in the first 17 starts of his career.
There are probably quite a few other quarterbacks whose stats early in their career resembled Luck's and most of those guys never became the caliber of quarterback Luck became before injuries ended his career too soon.
Mullens has passed for 4,552 yards with 24 touchdowns and 21 interceptions while completing 381 of 594 attempts (64.1%) in 17 starts. Luck's first 17 starts produced 4,552 yards for 25 touchdowns and 18 interceptions on a 54.9% completion rate.
Minnesota #Vikings QB Nick Mullens 🤝 Andrew Luck.
— SKOR North - Minnesota Sports (@SKORNorth) December 12, 2023
Totally the same guy. 😉😎 #SKOL pic.twitter.com/9wtrRYr44s
Mullens went undrafted after starring at Southern Mississippi, the same college that Brett Favre put himself on NFL radars. Maybe Mullens takes the reins for Minnesota on Saturday against the Bengals and leads Minnesota on a run to the playoffs. The odds favor an eventual crash-and-burn scenario for Mullens, but it's taken many a quarterback more than 17 starts to feel comfortable in the NFL.
"The game wasn't slowing down for me. My third year I had more interceptions than touchdowns, got benched," Kirk Cousins said to Peyton and Eli Manning on the "ManningCast" Monday night. "And then that game where I said 'You like that!" in the tunnel, I've never really looked back. It felt like it kind of clicked after that."
"It's never that one moment, it's probably just a gradual process over time," he added.
Mullens gets to write the rest of his story. For now, his numbers being comparable to Luck's early production can't be denied.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.