The Minnesota Vikings could be looking at another quarterback change come Monday night. After trying out Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel at the position, the team appears to be ready to let yet another player take over the offense. After acquiring former Buccaneers quarterback John Freeman just a few weeks ago, Leslie Frazier is planning to put him under center against the New York Giants.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport is reporting that Freeman is the likely starter for the Vikings on Monday. The decision will come down to how quickly Freeman can pick up the offense and master the playbook. If he can continue to improve in practice, Freeman will get the start. This will force Ponder and Cassel to battle it out as the team backup.
Freeman has only been with the team for two weeks after signing a one-year contract with the Vikings following his release from Tampa Bay. Frazier is unsure that is enough time to learn everything it takes to be a starter for the team.
"I'm not sure," Frazier said, via Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "We'll take a look when we get with him this week and see where he is. We've done some things with him in this first week. We'll see."
It is pretty clear the Vikings are not pleased with either Ponder or Cassel. Just two years after drafting him in the first round, Ponder is on his way out with the team. Frazier was critical of Cassel after the team lost to the Carolina Panthers, saying the quarterback needed to play better if he wanted to continue seeing the field. This caused Frazier to say he was evaluating the quarterback position leading into Week 7 against the Giants.
Frazier continues to remain complimentary of Ponder despite the team never turning towards him when Sunday's game was getting out of control. He believes the quarterback has a bright future ahead of him, but does that future happen in Minnesota? Probably not. General manager Rick Spielman echoed those words saying he had faith in all quarterbacks but that he was focused on putting the best 53-man roster together.
"Part of my job is to make sure I'm trying get the best 53 players on this roster. At the end of the season, we'll make an evaluation like we always do and determine that going forward but by no means is this a reflection on we're disappointed in Christian Ponder or disappointed in Matt Cassel or disappointed in Bethel, it was just an opportunity to go out and add another football player that we have high regard for," Spielman said.
