Christian Ponder: The Quarterback for the Minnesota VIkings in 2011

With the 12th pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings selected their “franchise quarterback” in Christian Ponder. 

Now the question they ponder: Should the young quarterback start from day one or should he sit and develop? 

In the last 10 years, there have been successes and failures on both methods of handling rookie quarterbacks. 

In 2005, the Green Bay Packers selected Aaron Rodgers 24th overall and with Brett Favre still under center, they were able to sit Rodgers for three years before making him the starter in 2008. 

Now Rodgers is one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL and has a Super Bowl ring to prove it.

The Cleveland Browns sat their 2007 first-round pick Brady Quinn his entire rookie season, minus eight passes thrown in relief of Derek Anderson in the final game of the 2007 season. 

Quinn, the 22nd overall pick in 2007, has yet to make noise in the NFL and now resides with the Denver Broncos and an uncertain future as he sits behind Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow. 

David Carr was the No. 1 overall pick in 2002 and the Houston Texans started him from day one.  Carr was sacked an NFL-record 76 times that year and never developed into a formidable starting quarterback.   

Then there are the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger and the Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan.  Roethlisberger was selected 11th overall in 2004 and Ryan was selected third overall in 2008.  

Both quarterbacks played significant time in their rookie seasons.  Roethlisberger played in 14 games while Ryan started all 16 his rookie season. 

Ryan led the Falcons to the NFL’s best regular season record in 2010 (14-2) while Roethlisberger has led the Steelers to three Super Bowls during his seven-year run as starter, winning two out of three. 

Based upon the Vikings' situation, the answer to the question regarding Ponder is simple: Is he the best quarterback on Minnesota’s roster? Yes.    

This is a team two years removed from the NFC Championship game and has many of the same pieces on its roster. It could make another playoff run, so it needs to play the best quarterback. The man for the job is Ponder. 

The only other quarterbacks on the Vikings’ roster are second-year quarterback Joe Webb and third-year quarterback Rhett Bomar. 

Webb did an OK job this past year filling in after Tarvaris Jackson and Brett Favre went down with season-ending injuries. 

Webb showed glimpses of greatness, like with his 17-of-26 (65.4 percent) passing for 195 yards in a 24-14 victory at Philadelphia in the second-to-last game of the season. 

But in three starts and two relief appearances he threw zero touchdown passes and created two with his legs.  On top of that, he threw three interceptions, which compared to Favre is nothing to worry about, but it’s certainly not a recipe for victories. 

Webb has only one year more of experience than Ponder entering the 2011 season and is probably better suited to play wide receiver, where the Vikings initially intended him to play. 

Bomar is the only other candidate. In his senior year at Sam Houston State, in 2008, he threw for 27 touchdowns, 3,355 yards (335.5 per game), and completed 56.2 percent of his passes.

If Bomar could not complete 60 percent of his passes in college, which is considered a benchmark to be a successful NFL quarterback, why should he be expected to complete 60 percent in the NFL?  We don’t know because we have never seen him play a down in a regular-season NFL game. 

As the roster stands now, Ponder should be the man under center for the Vikings. 

He had three years as a starter at Florida State and in nine games his senior year, he averaged 301.9 yards per game (2,717 yards on the season) and completed 68.8 percent (227-of-330) of his passes.

It is said that Ponder has a good understanding of the game, based upon his performances in the film room, and is an extremely intelligent individual (as demonstrated by his reception of his undergraduate degree in 2.5 years). 

While no one is certain what new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave’s offense will look like, Ponder has said that what he’s seen from Musgrave will rival what he ran at Florida State, making him familiar with the offense.

Coach Leslie Frazier wants the Vikings to get back to being a running team.  Given that Adrian Peterson will be the man running the ball, this shouldn't be a problem and will ease the pressure on Ponder to be a gunslinger in his rookie season. 

The Vikings shouldn't brag to the rest of the league that they have to start their rookie quarterback, but he gives the team the best chance to succeed in 2011.