A few years ago, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold was playing a game against the New England Patriots. Darnold was struggling in front of a primetime audience on the way to a 33-0 New York Jets loss.
Darnold was mic’d up for the game, and ESPN camera crews followed him to the sideline. His observation has defined his career to this point: “I’m seeing ghosts.”
In some ways, it’s ironic that Darnold is now a member of the Vikings because, five years later, many fans are seeing a different type of ghost – Christian Ponder.
Ponder played his last game for the Vikings in 2014 but remains as terrifying as an urban legend. Some believe that if you say his name five times into a mirror, you’ll be blocked on social media. Others think if you take a quarterback in the first round, he’ll immediately become one of the biggest busts in Vikings history.
While the Vikings enter a new era, Ponder – and the shortcomings that came with him – cast a giant shadow over the team’s scouting process ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft. But there are several things the Vikings could learn from that pick.
First, you must look at Ponder’s track record at Florida State. He was a three-year starter for the Seminoles from 2008 to 2010 and had his best season in 2009, completing 68.8% of his passes for 2,717 yards, 14 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
But Ponder’s shoulder injury cut his season to nine games. He returned the following year, but an elbow injury limited his ability. Ponder completed only 61.5% of his passes with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions. However, he fought through an elbow injury and led Florida State to a 10-4 record and a win in the Chic-Fil-A Bowl.
Despite his uneven senior season, Ponder won the pre-draft process. He performed well in Senior Bowl practices and wound up being the game’s MVP. He impressed front offices with his intelligence and leadership on the whiteboard and gained his biggest fans in Vikings general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Leslie Frazier.
“We all came away from that visit going, ‘Man, if that guy’s there, it would be hard to pass him up,” Frazier said after that year’s draft.
Ponder’s rise came with a unique set of circumstances. The NFL was in the middle of a lockout, and free agency didn’t happen before the draft. After Brett Favre retired following the 2010 season, Joe Webb was the only quarterback on Minnesota’s roster, and his unknown status left the Vikings as one of many teams desperate for a signal caller.
That created a run at the top. The Carolina Panthers took Cam Newton first overall, Jake Locker went eighth to the Tennesse Titans, and the Jacksonville Jaguars took Blaine Gabbert with pick 10. That created a dire situation that led the Vikings to take Ponder 11th-overall.
Mike Mayock was working with NFL Network then, and he praised Ponder’s leadership, intelligence, and ability to throw on timing. Yet, he was also one of many who questioned the selection.
“Rick Spielman is now tied at the hip with this young quarterback,” Mayock said, “because, man, he’s betting an awful lot on a kid that most people thought was going to go somewhere between [pick No.] 25 and [pick No.] 40.”
Spielman mentioned after the draft that he felt the need to take Ponder before he was off the board. Minnesota’s second-round pick was at No. 43, and he used it on Kyle Rudolph. “The thing we went back and forth on was, ‘When are you going to get another chance to swing?’” Spielman said. “If Ponder was gone, would we get another opportunity to get a quarterback in this draft? We didn’t want to take that risk.”
Ponder may have had the smarts to run a West Coast offense, but Minnesota’s structure was completely overrated. The Vikings team that went to the NFC Championship game in 2009 had run its course, and a complete rebuild was in order. Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin were still there, but Minnesota surrounded them with replacement-level players like Jerome Simpson, John Carlson, and eventually Matt Kalil.
Frazier was a defensive-minded head coach, so offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave oversaw Ponder’s development. Musgrave had coached a top-10 offense only once in his 10 seasons as an NFL coordinator. The conservative offense also affected Ponder. He only averaged 6.2 yards and 5.5 air yards per attempt in his first two seasons (27 games). Musgrave’s offense was predicated on Harvin or Peterson making something happen.
The Vikings were able to make this work for about five games in the 2012 season, where Ponder completed 68% of his passes for 1,082 yards, six touchdowns, two interceptions, and 7.04 air yards per attempt. But defenses adjusted, and Ponder completed only 58% of his passes for 1,853 yards, 12 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and 5.06 air yards per attempt over the final 11 games.
Minnesota still made the playoffs with a 10-6 record due to Frazier’s defense and Peterson having one of the greatest seasons by a running back in NFL history. But the Vikings replaced Ponder with Matt Cassel in 2013 after Ponder’s 0-3 start with a 59% completion rate for 691 yards, two touchdowns, five interceptions, and 5.06 air yards per attempt.
Despite playing in his last game 10 years ago, the memory of Ponder still burns in the brains of Vikings fans. During his press conference on Thursday, there were several things that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah suggested are different this time around.
The Vikings have already orchestrated their thorough search, arranging one-on-one visits as opposed to the pro-day grind. While they have sent quarterbacks coach Josh McCown to the prospects’ pro days, the Vikings have more control in a one-on-one situation.
Minnesota also has a built-in insurance plan because Adofo-Mensah acquired a second first-round pick in 2024. Most assumed that the second first-round pick was to move up in the draft, but Adofo-Mensah said it was a backup plan in case they couldn’t move up to get a quarterback.
The New Orleans Saints were in a similar situation when they traded for an additional first-round pick in 2022 but didn’t use it to trade up for a quarterback. Part of the decision could have been due to Malik Willis and Kenny Pickett being the quarterback options. Still, the Saints used those picks to build their infrastructure with Chris Olave and Trevor Penning.
You could criticize the Saints for going with Penning, who registered a 53.6 overall grade from Pro Football Focus last season. But Olave has become a crucial part of the infrastructure in New Orleans, which Adofo-Mensah believes is critical for a quarterback’s development.
It’s not even the environment they’re put in, it’s just the ability to grow. Not having to have everything on their shoulders right away. You can go back historically [and] a lot of good quarterbacks typically maybe go later in the draft because they go to better teams, better defenses, better running games, better things around them so that they’re not asked to win the game as third down as a rookie, which is very hard in this league. But maybe [you] come in and you…run a favorable offense, and you can throw the ball in favorable situations. Things like that.
If that quarterback doesn’t come in the first round, the Vikings also have the freedom to pivot and select two players to build the infrastructure. Consider that while Newton, Gabbert, and Locker were going off the board in 2011, potential Hall of Famers A.J. Green, Julio Jones, Patrick Peterson, Von Miller, and J.J. Watt were also there for the taking.
There’s no guarantee the Vikings would hit on two Hall of Famers at No. 11 and No. 23 (see the Saints in 2022). However, it’s something to consider if the Patriots ask for four first-rounders for the third-overall pick.
If the infrastructure is good, could a quarterback like Spencer Rattler or Joe Milton come in and be Andy Dalton, who Cincinnati selected 23 picks after Ponder in the 2011 draft? It’s something the Vikings at least have to consider.
With Kevin O’Connell at the controls and Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson at their disposal, Minnesota’s next quarterback should be entering a better situation than Ponder inherited in the early 2010s. That should breed success even if the quarterback doesn’t pan out.
Consider that the Vikings still went to the playoffs with Ponder in 2012 and won their division when Teddy Bridgewater replaced him. The Vikings also went to the NFC Championship game in 2017 with a group that may have reached the Super Bowl if Bridgewater hadn’t injured his knee during practice in 2016.
If the Vikings have done one thing right in this process, it’s giving themselves the type of options Spielman didn’t have in 2011. Does that mean they’ll select the right quarterback? Maybe not. But they’re going into the approach with the right mindset and could see success – even if they draft the next Christian Ponder.
