3 of 5

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Seemingly the consensus third quarterback in the draft, Brett Hundley could be an intriguing option for Minnesota if they really want to go sideways.

That's not to say Teddy Bridgewater is at any risk of failing. Far from it; Bridgewater showed the kind of advanced skills as well as statistical output to indicate a lot of good things about his development and who he will be with the Vikings. The chances are good he'll produce at a high level in the NFL.

But it's the most important position on the team, and saying the "chances are good" with such a critical position is not saying the same as "our team is set." With what seems to be a 50 percent bust rate for first-round quarterbacks, any team would be smart to create the best possible situation for themselves at this position.

Bridgewater is not near that 50 percent rate at the moment, but by no means is he a lock. Warnings about Robert Griffin III's rookie year aside (and there are a lot of reasons to discount it as any comparison for analysis), you can't guarantee a player who finished 27th in adjusted net yards per attempt and 24th in ESPN's total QBR.

Vikings fans should be optimistic and excited about Bridgewater. He had the second-lowest number of pass attempts that "should have" led to an interception, per Bleacher Report's Cian Fahey, and his yards-per-attempt (a much more stable predictor of quarterback success) ranked 15th in the NFL as a rookie, despite a shaky start.

All the signs are that he'll be a franchise quarterback for the Vikings.

But it's good to have insurance, and if he somehow regresses or gets injured (or even if he simply doesn't continue to develop), it may be good to have a high-level developmental quarterback to turn the offense over to.

Hundley could be that person, and he's underrated as a player. That doesn't mean any team in need of a quarterback should look to him for relief at the position, or even that he's as good of an answer to the position as a random quarterback selected in the top 10 over the past few years, but that he can develop into a quality player.

There are few late-round quarterbacks that develop into successes. For every Tom Brady or...well, Tom Brady, there are countless others who don't make it. Of the 87 quarterbacks drafted in the sixth or seventh rounds in the past 20 years, five have made Pro Bowls.

Two of them are Matt Cassel and Derek Anderson. The other two are Marc Bulger and Matt Hasselbeck, hardly paragons of NFL success.

A developmental project may make more sense in the second round than the sixth round, if turning to a somewhat reliable passer is the goal.

Hundley will need seasoning. Sitting behind an established starter is best for Hundley, whose offense was much more about short and friendly passes, throwing screens almost twice as often as Marcus Mariota did at Oregon and the same amount Derek Carr did in 2014 with Fresno State—an astounding 33 percent of passes.

Often maligned by analysts, Hundley remains the third quarterback in most draft circles, and the second-favorite quarterback for expert analyst Matt Waldman, who broke down Hundley's film exhaustively with Eric Stoner over the course of two one-hour videos.

Hundley has some interesting issues; he displays excellent arm strength in some situations that may not call for it and poor arm strength in others, and he had his decisions predetermined for him at UCLA but showed excellent improvisational ability.

Regardless, his ball placement to perimeter targets and in the middle of the field has been good, and he has excellent delivery mechanics, aside from some easy-to-fix issues with how compressed the motion is on deep throws.

Knocked for his pocket presence, Hundley did have issues scrambling too early and often, but also shows a lot of instances of stepping up in the pocket and delivering tough throws, altering his delivery to do it. His ability to reset needs work, but his poise is there—and that's harder to teach. Over time, he's been better about pocket management and has been more used to making subtle moves in the pocket to create space.

When he's scrambling, he's perhaps the best in the class, as the only quarterback to consistently run like a running back by setting up blocks, pressing lanes and running with authority. He has the maturity to look off defensive backs and create space for his receivers and has learned to stop relying on his legs.

His ability to pick up an NFL offense as well as the questions that always come with inconsistency will be what keep him out of the top of the draft, but the Vikings could sit a player ready to learn from Shaun Hill and provide a more-than-capable backup to Teddy Bridgewater.

If everything works out, they can trade him to a quarterback-needy team for a hefty price in the future.

Not that they should. It just so happens that it's somewhat defensible if they do.