Why Christian Ponder thinks he didn't pan out

[FLVike]

When the defense knows that they can blitz faster than you can find a receiver it's going to be a long day.

[JustInTime]

Perhaps he was distracted…!? 

Sam kinda fell off the face of the earth.

[StickierBuns]

They didn't do enough due diligence on Ponder....just like with Troy Williamson. Horrible picks. Need picks gone wrong, forced. Christian played like a deer in headlights every play.

[MaroonBells]

They didn't do enough due diligence on Ponder....just like with Troy Williamson. Horrible picks. Need picks gone wrong, forced. Christian played like a deer in headlights every play.

Williamson, John Ross, Ruggs, Fuller, Coleman, DHB. Who remembers Matt Jones? The NFL falls hook, line and sinker for these speed-only guys. Every. Damn. Time. I don't remember even looking at Troy Williamson before the draft that year. We had a second 1st rounder that year. Erasmus James. We got nobody from that draft.

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I just remember the happy feet when the 1st read wasn't there...

Still makes me quesy.

Yep, that was his bugaboo. He can blame the shoulder all he wants, but his arm, or even accuracy, weren't bad. He just had no poise in the pocket. You could almost see the terror and chaos in his head.

[Zanary]

Williamson, John Ross, Ruggs, Fuller, Coleman, DHB. Who remembers Matt Jones? The NFL falls hook, line and sinker for these speed-only guys. Every. Damn. Time. I don't remember even looking at Troy Williamson before the draft that year. We had a second 1st rounder that year. Erasmus James. We got nobody from that draft.

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Yep, that was his bugaboo. He can blame the shoulder all he wants, but his arm, or even accuracy, weren't bad. He just had no poise in the pocket. You could almost see the terror and chaos in his head.

In fairness, his "pocket" is a really kind way of saying "his 1.7-2.1 seconds before mauling" on far too many occasions. The absolute crap that was our line (and would basically remain, for the next decade) was a subject of many sports bobblehead recap.

College injury or not, he seemed pretty animated and determined when he still had Percy available for improvisation.

[badgervike]

I think the primary reason that Ponder didn't pan out...is that he wasn't very good.....

Plain and simple...Vikings panicked. They felt their biggest need was QB in a weak QB class and they reached for Ponder because even some of that mediocrity had been selected (Locker, Gabbert). Trying to remember what we had in the QB cupboard at the time...think it might have been Sage and Joe Webb. Too bad they didn't "reach" for Andy Dalton instead who went very early in the 2nd.

[purplefaithful]

I think the primary reason that Ponder didn't pan out...is that he wasn't very good.....

Plain and simple...Vikings panicked.  They felt their biggest need was QB in a weak QB class and they reached for Ponder because even some of that mediocrity had been selected (Locker, Gabbert).  Trying to remember what we had in the QB cupboard at the time...think it might have been Sage and Joe Webb.  Too bad they didn't "reach" for Andy Dalton instead who went very early in the 2nd.

Time will tell - as of now this 2024 QB class harkens me back to the class of 2011.

[Montana Tom]

Sam kinda fell off the face of the earth.

Well when you go from an ESPN regular to being fired (budget cuts along with RGIII), unless you catch on with someone else with another national face, you are going to probably focus on being a Mom to three kids.

[supafreak84]

That entire quarterback class that year was pure crap, but we really needed a quarterback and out of the options available I really liked Ponder. Smart, athletic, arm was live enough, and looked the part Senior Bowl week where he might have been the best player on the field. I think where things started to go wrong was the coaching staff that was in place at the time, especially Bill Musgrave who was so anal about not turning the ball over that it made Ponder gun shy and we did not have the best personnel on offense. You look at the Vikings coaching staff and roster that year and it was textbook 101 on "how to fail a young QB"

[Zanary]

I think the primary reason that Ponder didn't pan out...is that he wasn't very good.....

Plain and simple...Vikings panicked.  They felt their biggest need was QB in a weak QB class and they reached for Ponder because even some of that mediocrity had been selected (Locker, Gabbert).  Trying to remember what we had in the QB cupboard at the time...think it might have been Sage and Joe Webb.  Too bad they didn't "reach" for Andy Dalton instead who went very early in the 2nd.

In retrospect, Dalton could have been a better choice...but, as our current HC says: systems fail quarterbacks. Neither the Frazier "check the tape" or the Zimmer "don't tell the offense where my office is" approaches were likely to raise a QB well.