Poor Christian Ponder. He goes to school in Florida, and now has to spend his winters in Minnesota. Brr! Oh, and also, his future fan base booed him relentlessly when he was drafted. There’s that too.
I get the rationale behind the boos, I really do. Ponder was pegged as a second round pick, and the Vikings got him in the first half of the first round. The idea is that they had seen three QBs fly off the board already and thought there was a run. The thing is, everyone expected those three QBs to go early, and the Vikings probably could have waited. I think the issue was that the Vikings were fixated on drafting a quarterback and fully expected Jake Locker to be there. After Locker was gone, they were waiting on Blaine Gabbert. Then the Jaguars traded up for Gabbert and I think the Vikings panicked. Instead of waiting and drafting one of hte huge talents left on the board, like Prince Amukamara or Nick Fairley, they instead went with the position they had focused on, apparently exclusively. So with that lack of vision, I understand the boos.
But seriously, believe me when I say there was no better quarterback in this draft for the Vikings than Christian Ponder. They have a power running game and their top wide out is a slot guy who does his best work with the ball in his hands. They don’t NEED a big arm, and if they can improve the O-Line in later rounds, they don’t need a mobile QB. What they need is someone smart who can take over in the immediate future. Ponder is both of those things.
I make jokes about the Vikings, but I really do hope that he works out for the team, and if the team is patient, I think he will. Of course, when have the Vikings ever been patient?
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