Minnesota Vikings’ head coach Leslie Frazier to start Christian Ponder if lockout permits – NFL News
After the Minnesota Vikings drafted quarter-back Christian Ponder from Florida State University with their 12th overall pick in the 2011 National Football League Draft, Vikings’ head coach Leslie Frazier is not too worried about finding a veteran
quarter-back to start for the team in the 2011 season.
He would like nothing better than for Ponder to start as quarter-back in their season opener on September 11 against the San Diego Chargers.
"Ideally, I'd like for him to be ready to go when we play San Diego," Frazier said Sunday. "That would be the ideal situation -- we've got our Matt Ryan, we've got our (Joe) Flacco, we've got our (Mark) Sanchez right here. But because of the uncertainty
of the offseason, it's just hard to determine exactly how you want to approach it. So, we need a little more clarity on what this off-season’s going to be like.”
He admitted that his wish would be difficult to fulfil if the Vikings’ off-season program is affected by the NFL lockout. He says that it would be tough to have Ponder start if coaches are not able to evaluate Ponder’s potential as a quarter-back in the
professional league. Frazier says that the team would need at least three weeks to evaluate Ponder through organised training activities and pre-season games. He is basing his decision on where the team goes in accordance to when football starts.
During his 2010 season at Florida State, Ponder completed 184 passes out of 299 attempts for 2,044 yards, 20 touchdowns, eight interceptions, 23 sacks and a 135.68 passer rating.
The other two quarter-backs on the Vikings’ roster include Rhett Bomar, who has not played in a professional game as of now, and Joe Webb, who played in place of Tarvaris Jackson and Brett Favre during the 2010 season.
After the Vikings drafted Ponder in the 2011 NFL Draft, sources claimed that the franchise had made Washington Redskins’ quarter-back Donovan McNabb their top priority. The Vikings would like a veteran quarter-back to run their offence while the Redskins
would like to get rid of McNabb, who is expected to be traded or released by the franchise in the off-season.
In the 51-year existence of the Vikings, they have drafted only three quarter-backs in the first round of the NFL Draft, including Ponder. The last quarter-back that the Vikings have picked in the first round was Daunte Culpepper in the 1999 NFL Draft and
before him, Tommy Kramer in the 1977 NFL Draft.
Although he was picked to the Pro Bowl three times, Culpepper damaged his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), and medial collateral ligament (MCL) in one game during the 2005 season and was released shortly after. Since then,
the Vikings have not had a regular starting quarter-back because of injuries or other unforeseen circumstances.
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