http://youtube.com/watch?v=
iLCXNbLcul0[/youtube]
After many long months sweating it out to a dance montage in Florida after being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings, quarterback Christian Ponder made the 22 hour trip up to Minneapolis in a cramped U-haul truck only to walk out into a heat wave that’s left the state hotter than black cat in heat outside in this heat wave. Make sense? Good.
He traveled to Larry Fitzgerald’s Annual Training Camp for NFL Players Who Want to Play Good and Do Other Stuff Good Too and put in some spot duty. Noticeably, we had several news outlets like KFAN sit on the sidelines and take some creep-worthy video of Ponder going through some passing drills, which is what we see above. It should be noted that I’m not sure if creepy video behind the bushes is any better or worse than straight pictures, but I am also grateful that this content was of passing drills instead of his conditioning drills, which would be super boring. Shuttle Runs! Exciting!
Notes from the video:
- I guess Shanko is out there somewhere, but I wasn’t really paying attention. Normally, you’d think you’d notice the guy dragging an anaconda behind him. Not today!
- Brian Robison was also there working out. I can happily report that his dreaded cornrows are gone and have instead been replaced by a lovely long mane of hair not too dissimilar to a budding lion cub. I thoroughly approve of this course of action. When defensive ends have longer hair, they just play better. It’s already been proven.
- This is a pretty significant video, considering since the Vikings drafted Ponder fans haven’t REALLY had a solid opportunity to look at our “property” and analyze him. Remember the days of rookie OTAs when you’d see the new draft picks in purple for the first time? It was pretty sweet. This year has sucked because we missed out on that and early critiquing, which is probably what will make this rookie class better than all others. Stupid fans.
- Ponder has a bit more zip on his thrown ball than I was anticipating. I don’t know what I was expecting, I guess … maybe more of a soft duck that floats to the receiver … but on a clear path, straight away throw, he’s able to snap it in there pretty good. Also, I am certain there is a sexual innuendo in there somewhere, you just have to find it. Oh! That might be another one!
- The early concern are whether or not that zip can carry to the passes outside the hashes. On several throws to the sidelines the receiver ends up dropping the ball, having to extend their Go-Go-Gadget legs to reach it, or it sails away from them completely. This throw, and this throw alone it seems, tends to dictate the success of an NFL quarterback more often then not. It’s a little troublesome, and yes I’m judging a guy that hasn’t even signed his rookie contract yet.
- Also noticeable is Pondexter’s feet work and how he performs with a guy in his face. Hey, I get it … we all get a little stage fright when a dude is right next to you. But Pondexter is going to have to step his game up if he doesn’t want the Vikings to end up at the bottom of the NFC North this year (we will). There’s nothing revolutionary war here that is shown, pretty standard three step drops, but even so when a faux-rusher comes at him it seems some of his passes went high. How is Percy supposed to catch anything thrown five feet above the ground?
Beyond all of this, I don’t care, he looks awesome, it’s kind of like I’m watching football.
What’re your thoughts?
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