EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings wanted to add experience to their quarterbacks room and did so by signing Brett Rypien Thursday, but they also want to continue the development of Jaren Hall.

To make room for Rypien, who is entering his sixth NFL season, as the team's third quarterback on the 53-man roster, Minnesota waived Hall, a second-year pro who had made the initial 53 with starter Sam Darnold and veteran backup Nick Mullens.

Within about two hours of announcing Thursday's moves, General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Head Coach Kevin O'Connell participated in previously scheduled media sessions and explained their plan, which includes trying to sign Hall to Minnesota's practice squad — if he clears waivers.

"Jaren has done a great job for us. Obviously, he had really improved over the preseason," Adofo-Mensah said. "We talk, and I use that 'development' word a lot. And with quarterbacks, you don't want to throw these guys in too early. And I think with him, we just want more time to where we're going to.

"I've learned from last season that you're either one snap away or one snap from being one snap away," Adofo-Mensah added. "We just wanted to be in a position where we felt, you know, adding Brett to the room feels good. We feel good about that decision, but also giving us more time to pour into Jaren and work with him if he so chooses to do that."

In 2023, the Vikings started four quarterbacks for the first time within one season in franchise history.

The dominoes began falling when Kirk Cousins suffered a torn Achilles in Week 8 at Green Bay. Mullens was rehabbing an injury at the time, so Hall made his regular-season debut in relief at Lambeau Field in a 24-10 victory.

Minnesota scrambled to trade for Joshua Dobbs two days after Cousins' injury and just before the NFL's trade deadline.

The Vikings prepped Hall to make his first start the following week at Atlanta, and he opened the game well before suffering a concussion. Dobbs entered that game and led an improbable comeback drive at the end of the game.

Dobbs started the next four games, a win against the Saints, a loss at the Broncos, a loss against the Bears and a 3-0 win at the Raiders in which Mullens came off the bench to lead the game's only scoring drive.

Mullens started the following week at Cincinnati and played well, but the Bengals rallied to an overtime win. He also played the entire contest the next week against Detroit. O'Connell returned to Hall as the starter in Week 17 against Green Bay, but Mullens finished that game and started in Week 18 at Detroit.

O'Connell pointed to Rypien's familiarity with similar offenses, including time spent last season with the Los Angeles Rams, as well as what he showed during the 2024 preseason with the Bears.

Rypien completed 24 of 34 passes for 335 yards with three touchdowns and a passer rating of 131.4 for Chicago.

"Brett has some exposure to, you know, different variations of our system that will give him a fast-track timeline," O'Connell said. "And just knowing where he's at mentally, the type of preseason he had, it gives us a little bit more of a short-term kind of foundational plan for a week from Sunday versus what might be in Jaren Hall's best interest for what's best for his career.

Hall, a fifth-round pick in 2023, finished his second NFL preseason having completed 28 of 46 passes for 339 yards with four touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 112.5.

"I fully believe in Jaren Hall's future," O'Connell said. "I believe that we brought Jaren here for a long-term process that, quite honestly, you guys have heard me talk about quarterback journeys a lot. That timeline got sped up when we went through the numbers at the position we did a year ago.

"And all Jaren has done, you know, since that is do all the right things, improve. I thought he was, you know, showing a lot of those things in the preseason action," O'Connell added. "That move was really indicative of knowing what we went through last year, having the opportunity to have a couple veteran guys behind Sam that give us an opportunity, with comfort in the system."