Minnesota Vikings: Why They Should Stay Away from Tim Tebow

On Monday, Peyton Manning watch came to a somewhat final conclusion. The Denver Broncos won the Peyton Manning Sweepstakes and will eventually agree to a five-year, $95 million contract with the future hall of fame quarterback. As a result, the Broncos will now try to trade Tim Tebow.

Yes, they will attempt to trade Tim Tebow. That Tim Tebow who is arguably the league's most electrifying and debatable player in recent memory. The same Tim Tebow who lead the Broncos from irrelevance at the beginning of the season to a playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in January.

Yup, Tim Tebow is on the market and it would be in the best interest of the Minnesota Vikings to stay away from him at all costs.

Many Tebowmaniacs that are tied with the Vikings have already suggested that the team should make a push to acquire the third-year quarterback out of Florida. Basically, if the Vikings made such a move, it would be a giant mistake.

It's been brought up before, but the Vikings spent the 12th overall pick in last year's draft on Christian Ponder. It doesn't really matter what you think about Ponder after year one, but there were several factors that will improve for Ponder in year two thanks to the pieces that are coming to compliment him.

The Vikings have already brought in John Carlson on a five-year, $25 million contract to give the offense a Rob Gronkowski/Aaron Hernandez type battery (their thoughts, not mine) for Ponder to check down to.

They also have their upcoming draft to lean on as the team will get an offensive cornerstone with left tackle Matt Kalil or wide receiver Justin Blackmon.

Even if the Vikings opt for Kalil, the Vikings could still get a quality receiver in round two such as Stephen Hill or Marvin McNutt (if they choose to wait another round).

In other words, Ponder should have several more weapons to work with as he continues to learn the offense (which should be aided by a full offseason compared to last year).

Adding Tebow wouldn't solve anything. There will still be the massive holes on the offensive line and receiving corps that I believe Tebow wouldn't be able to overcome

I don't care if Tebow was a "miracle worker" in Denver, because when you look in depth at the Broncos, it wasn't all Tebow.

The Broncos had an awesome defense that got better as the year progressed. They also had a coach that was smart enough to realize that Tebow wouldn't thrive in a regular offense. Do you really expect Leslie Frasier to know how to use Tim Tebow? I have my doubts.

Even the cost of bringing Tebow would be too much for the Vikings. I have the feeling that the Broncos will have inflated value of Tebow during this shopping process and might cost a team a second-round pick. For a team that's rebuilding, it doesn't make sense.

So, in closing, the Vikings need to stick with Christian Ponder and attempt to put pieces around him rather than find lightning in a bottle with Tim Tebow. Given the pieces and the time to throw, I think Ponder will be much better than the guy who's completed just 50 percent of his passes.

Christian Ponder's ceiling is much higher than Tim Tebow's.