The Vikings have an interesting quarterback situation on their hands, but not one that many teams would want. Christian Ponder has done nothing to inspire confidence through three starts this year, and it's clear that he's not the long term solution at the position. Ponder will not be starting this week against the Steelers due to injured ribs, opening the door for Matt Cassel to take charge of the job. Cassel has experienced a fair amount of success during his career, but he's also had plenty of failure, and he's thrown 22 interceptions in just his last 17 starts.
As has been previously stated on this blog, Cassel deserves this chance to start. The wide receivers on this team have already gone out of their way to praise Cassel's presence in the huddle, meaning they may have a lot more confidence in him than Ponder. Cassel has been able to push the downfield in his career much more frequently than Ponder, and he could open things up for Adrian Peterson. He also worked often with rookie wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson often in the offseason, which means he could have a much greater rapport with the receiver and could help with his development. Of course, Cassel is likely not any more of a long term answer than Ponder. If he plays like he did last year in Kansas City, where fans cheered when he was taken out of a game due to injury, he won't be a short term answer either. Cassel has a chance, but it's possible that he's just no better than Ponder.
If Cassel fails just as Ponder has this year, a possible third option at quarterback has been floated out recently. Quarterback Josh Freeman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was benched this week after poor play the first few weeks of the season, and is now believed to be seeking a trade. Jason La Canfora of CBS sports initially broke the news of trade rumors, and has singled out the Vikings as the most likely trade target for Freeman. Reportedly, Rick Speilman, the Vikings' general manager, had high interest in Freeman coming into the 2009 draft, but the Buccaneers selected Freeman before it was the Vikings' pick. Freeman has had great stretches of quality play since entering the NFL, most notably the 2010 season, where he threw for 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions.
Since new coach Greg Schiano took over in Tampa, Freeman has steadily declined. Last season, Freeman started out hot, throwing for 21 touchdowns and six interceptions in his first 10 games while leading the Bucs to a 6-4 record. Freeman vastly regressed over the last six games though, throwing for six more touchdowns compared to 10 interceptions, and the Buccaneers only won one more game. This offseason, Schiano did nothing to hide the little confidence he had in Freeman. The organization drafted quarterback Mike Glennon in the third round, a clear shot at Freeman. There have also been rumors floating around that Schiano tampered the captain voting in Tampa in order to make sure Freeman did not receiver a "C" on his jersey. With the organization sending multiple signals of little confidence, Freeman played abominably in the first three games of the season, completing less than 50% of his passes in each contest and failing to get a win.
Freeman has clearly imploded, so why would the Vikings take a chance on him? Upside. Freeman is still young (Colin Kaepernick is actually older than him) and has all the physical tools you would want in a franchise passer. With the right coaching, it may still be possible for him to turn his career around. If both Ponder and Cassel end up bringing in the same results, Speilman may try to roll the dice with the quarterback he liked coming into the 2009 draft, especially since the Buccaneers will most likely accept only a late round pick in exchange for Freeman.
While it would not cost the Vikings much to take a chance on Freeman, the trade has several negatives as well. The most obvious would be that Freeman has only had one season of success in his career, and that season didn't even result in a playoff berth, and it's likely that year is the exception, not the rule. Freeman also has a large cap hit remaining on the year, a little over $8 million, and the Vikings would most likely have to restructure his contract in order to be able to get him to Minnesota. That most likely would require extending his contract, meaning he would have to stick around 2013. Even if the Vikings somehow were able to bring him to the Metrodome without extending his contract, his extended tryout with them would likely produce little results. It would be extremely unrealistic of the Vikings to expect anything out of Freeman right away coming into a new system with teammates that he has never worked with before. Freeman would require the Vikings to largely ignore the quarterback position during the 2014 offseason if he came over, even though he may not end up being a long term answer here just like he wasn't in Tampa.
While it's tempting to hope Cassel or Freeman will come onto this team and right the ship, the reality is that neither of these two is likely to get this team close to a Super Bowl anytime soon. Nine out of the past 10 Super Bowl winners have won with a quarterback that they drafted. The Vikings want help at quarterback? Don't look to put a band-aid over the position with Freeman and go start looking at the guys in college.
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