Training Camp Battles

[PurpleHalo]

Desmond Bishop is not even on the roster anymore, he is a free agent.

Well it looks like I'm right!

[Purple bruise]

sh plays, and he has lost a step for sure. I don't think they will have much faith in Bishop staying healthy.[/quote]

Desmond Bishop is not even on the roster anymore, he is a free agent.[/quote]

Well it looks like I'm right! [/quote]

[Lash Man]

I agree and I feel that an open competition will have Ponder starting day one.

If Ponder is the starter in game one than we wasted a #1 pick taking Bridgewater .

[Webbfann]

Save this post.

Saved. See you in September. I'll bring a knife, fork, and a plate full of crow for you.

[mmvikes]

I would like to see that happen

Same here. I hope he becomes a stud for us for years to come.

[dead_poet]

Seems Mauti is the new Childs 'round here. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy and hope he becomes a stud for us, but my expectations are tempered. While his injuries weren't as "unique" as Childs', his were much more frequent. Three ACL tears are no joke. I know medicine has come a long ways in the last five years, but even one is enough to derail a career. Pulling for the guy.

[PurpleMustReign]

When did they release Childs?

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[dead_poet]

When did they release Childs?

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March 6.

[PacificNorseWest]

The DBs will be fighting it out as much or more than the linebackers IMO

Yeah, that should be interesting as well. Most specifically what happens at SS and at corner opposite Rhodes. I think he and Harrison are locked in as week 1 starters.

[King James]

Even if Mauti did start, I don't know if he can stay healthy for a whole season. He has torn an ACL in both knees and twice in one knee. If he just tore it one time then I wouldn't be as skeptical, but 3? I'm still pulling for him to start though. Despite his injuries I believe a healthy Mauti is the most talented MLB on our roster.

[Purple bruise]

Even if Mauti did start, I don't know if he can stay healthy for a whole season. He has torn an ACL in both knees and twice in one knee. If he just tore it one time then I wouldn't be as skeptical, but 3? I'm still pulling for him to start though. Despite his injuries I believe a healthy Mauti is the most talented MLB on our roster.

He played all of last year and survived. He says this year that he is 100%.

[mondry]

He played all of last year and survived. He says this year that he is 100%.

Remember him running stride for stride with Patterson on that kick return TD? Mauti has some wheels! Might as well see how long they last!

[saint33]

Seems Mauti is the new Childs 'round here. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy and hope he becomes a stud for us, but my expectations are tempered. While his injuries weren't as "unique" as Childs', his were much more frequent. Three ACL tears are no joke. I know medicine has come a long ways in the last five years, but even one is enough to derail a career. Pulling for the guy.

The difference is we've seen his knees in action, on special teams. And there didn't seem to be anything wrong with them to me. He ran almost stride for stride with Patterson on one of his TD returns (see my avatar). He made a few big tackles on returns as well down the stretch of the season, running full speed and wrapping the guy up. No hesitation, no speed lost, really only thing we didn't see a lot of yet is his lateral movement, but considering the condition his knees appeared to be in last season and an extra off season to continue their repair, I don't consider his current health as a concern.

Of course there's always the fear of future injury (knock on wood), but outside of it happening in training camp/pre season, it won't hinder him being the day one starter.

[Loki]

For those that said Ponder will start week 1 It makes me legitimately question how much you know about football. Unless you assume our new coaches are complete morons, which I don't think is the case because some of you stated you think ponder will WIN the competition. This is a complete joke and I can state many reasons why. For starters Cassel was brought back this offseason and paid $2 mill more than Ponder and gave him an extra year over Ponder, now I understand money has no relevance to play on the field but it does show how the team feels about a certain player. Lets look at what the Vikings have done recently done with Ponders contract. The Vikings had the chance to add a fifth year to Ponders contract this offseason but declined, now seeing his play this isn't surprising but when you know that they could have exercised this option, seen how he plays this year and if he plays badly terminate his contract before the season and not pay him a dime it shows you what they really think of him. They don't even wan't to take a no-risk deal that he can come in and play like a franchise QB, because they know he can't.

My next point is the offense Norv Turner runs. Norv likes to create space for his running backs by spreading the defense out, and throwing deep balls. Ponder rarely throws deep and when he does he rarely completes it. Ponders favorite Target is Kyle Rudolph and he rarely even throws the ball to Greg Jennings. Cassel on the other hand was in the top 10 in completion percentage on 20+ throws, which doesn't necessarily show he throws a great deep ball it just shows he's selectively smart when he does throw deep. Greg Jennings also began to excel when Cassel became the starting QB. This shows me that with ponder even if you spread the defense and run deep routes the defense will just continue to stack the box and ponder wont take advantage of WR's or Deep routes. Cassel on the other hand will take advantage of a stacked box by throwing smart deep balls and utilizing the talented receivers on this team. also theres this.... career TD's vs INT's.... Ponder 38 td's vs 34 INT's..... Cassel 93 TD's vs 66 INT's. Ponder does hurts the team just as often as he helps it. Cassel isn't great but at least he's helping the team lol

My third and final point is that new head coaches usually like to find "Their guy" at QB. now let's take a look at who Zimmer thinks are "his guys". "I think the team rallied around him a lot; I think the team has a lot of confidence in him," Zimmer said about Cassel. "Teddy will play when we feel like he's ready, if he's the best guy, which we hope that he will be,” Zimmer said about Bridgewater. "The hard thing in this league is you can be playing good and doing a lot of good things and at that position, if you have a negative play or a sack, fumble or interception, a play like that at the wrong time, it takes away all of the good things you've done," Turner said. "I've been impressed with Christian and the things he does in terms of his movement. He moves extremely well on the run. He's made a lot of big plays. The starting point with any quarterback to me is eliminating those [bad] plays. That would be one of our starting points." Turner said about ponder. So the best thing he has to say about Ponder is he runs well lol. too bad he plays QUARTERBACK.

So basically if you're not a window licker you should have the common sense to read between the lines and realise the team has literally done everything short of cutting Ponder to show him he's not the starter anymore. LITERALLY EVERYTHING, they started Josh Freeman after a week of practice hoping he'd be better than Ponder, they replaced him with Cassel to end the season, They drafted a QB in the first round of the draft, they said there was discussion of taking a 2nd QB in the draft, and they declined a 5th year option that had 0% risk if Ponder magically became good.

Sorry about the rant guys but I know you all know better than to suggest stupid things like that.

[PacificNorseWest]

Even if Mauti did start, I don't know if he can stay healthy for a whole season. He has torn an ACL in both knees and twice in one knee. If he just tore it one time then I wouldn't be as skeptical, but 3? I'm still pulling for him to start though. Despite his injuries I believe a healthy Mauti is the most talented MLB on our roster.

I hear that. My thoughts are straight line. If he earns the right to start in camp then he starts. Simple as that to me. I'm sure everyone is concerend about his injury history, but then why draft him if it's not a thought that the Vikings think he can seriously contribute? That's why it's important to have depth, but let's not baby him because of his history. He can help this team. Worry about the injury when we get to that point, ya know?