5 Reasons Why Leslie Frazier, Minnesota Vikings Must Trade for Carson Palmer

The 2009 season was the best the Minnesota Vikings had since the 1998 15-1 season. 

We watched the eerie sight of a man sporting an oddly strange but very familiar purple No. 4 jersey, who had torched my Minnesota Vikings for 16 years as the leader of the hated Green Bay Packers, lead the Vikes to the 2010 NFC championship game.

Brett Favre may have had his best statistical season as a pro, 4,202 yards and 33 touchdowns, with only seven interceptions in ’09, but fell just short to the New Orleans Saints.  That loss was not Favre’s fault, but that’s a debate for a different time.

Favre came back for one more season, in 2010, but a 6-10 record, a last-place finish in the NFC North and a witnessing to the end of one of the greatest streaks in all of sports, left Minnesota Viking fans scratching their heads and feeling completely let down.

Christian Ponder

1.  This past April, in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings made arguably the boldest move of the draft by selecting Christian Ponder, who played quarterback at Florida State, with the 12th pick.

Starting Ponder this year would indicate that the Vikings have committed to re-building this team.  This is a huge problem because this team is built for now. 

The group of guys that went through that train wreck of a season, last year, is basically the same group of guys that was a part of that amazing 2009 season. 

The window is real small for this squad, and having a veteran like Carson Palmer gives this team the best chance of winning now.

Carson Palmer

2.  Having a veteran presence, like a Carson Palmer, would be the best case scenario for a young QB like Ponder. 

Especially since the current depth chart contains the likes of Joe Webb, Rhett Bomar, Patrick Ramsey and Tarvaris Jackson, who looks like he’s headed out west to the Seattle Seahawks.

A quarterback of the future needs to have a better mentor than this “rack of yard tools from Sears”, to take a quote from one of my favorite actors, Dan Aykroyd, from one of my favorite movies, "The Great Outdoors". 

Carson Palmer

3.  Carson Palmer has proven he can win.  Just last year, he tossed 26 touchdowns to go with 3,970 yards. 

While he did throw 20 picks, everyone knows that we can attribute some that to a couple of prima donna receivers, whose names I really don’t care to mention.

Leslie Frazier

4.  We can all agree that new Vikings Head Coach, Leslie Frazier, wants to have a long and prosperous career. 

The first and best step, for Coach Frazier, would be to have a veteran quarterback, who has proven he can win as well as be a strong positive influence in the locker room.

Adrian Peterson

5.  The last and what might be the most important reason of all, Adrian Peterson.

Going into a rebuilding phase is most assuredly not something Peterson wants to do.  This goes for Jared Allen as well. 

Over the years, the great Minnesota sports fans have had to sit and watch their favorite players leave this great state. Names like Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett, Marian Gaborik, Johan Santana, Torii Hunter and even David Ortiz. 

We as great Minnesota sports fans do not deserve watching our favorite athletes leave. 

Adrian Peterson is the next great Minnesota sports athlete that we may have to add to this list, if the Minnesota Vikings brass fails to step up and trade for the likes of Carson Palmer.