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Christian Ponder of the Minnesota Vikings is going to prove why he was a former No. 1 draft pick for the franchise this upcoming season. While some fans of the Vikings may be down on Ponder, they need to understand that it’s hard to play the quarterback position well if you don’t have any decent wide receivers to throw to.
Percy Harvin was an outspoken critic of Ponder and is supposedly glad to be rid of him in 2013. However, Harvin was on pace for 110 receptions and over 1,200 yards with Ponder as his quarterback last season until a season-ending injury occured and he only appeared in the first nine games.
Keep in mind that this is the same Harvin who has been a headache for his college coach, Urban Meyer at Florida, and both of his coaches with the Vikings. Where there is smoke there is usually fire, and Harvin harldly has a track record of being the voice of reason.
The biggest fan of Harvin and his new contract with the Seattle Seahawks is Harvin, but you need talent to win and there is no denying that he is a great player who helped make Ponder better.
While Ponder has a running game led by the great Adrian Peterson and a new franchise left tackle in Matt Kalil, he was still void of any legitimate talent at wide receiver until the Vikings were able to pry Greg Jennings away from the Green Bay Packers. Armed with an extra first-round pick thanks to trading Harvin, you can also bet the Vikings will be adding a young receiver early in the upcoming draft, too.
Most quarterbacks aren’t like Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III or Russell Wilson from the elite draft class last year in that they need time to develop and to have weapons around them. Even the great John Elway wasn’t overly impressive until his third season in the NFL.
I am not trying to put Ponder into the class of Elway by any means, but I will say that he is going to be a solid player if Jennings can stay healthy and they can draft a youngster with some playmaking ability. While Ponder may never become an Elway, fans of the Vikings can have confidence that he will become and asset and not a liability in the coming years.
Bob writes about the Seattle Seahawks for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @seahawksbob.
