If you follow me on Twitter, you got a pretty good sense as to how I felt in the immediate aftermath of the Vikings selection last night.
"No Words."
"#Vomit"
"Meanwhile, Detroit is about to have Suh and Fairley up the middle. Good f***ing luck."
"The Vikings took Christian Ponder and left Nick Fairley. I, uh, yeah. Good night everyone."
As someone who tends to avoid snap reactions in every other aspect of my life, I'm always a bit embarrassed when I gaze upon my Twitter feed after some sporting event. I was excited about the prospects of the draft last night. For the first time in a number of years, the Vikings were committed to taking a quarterback in round one. Sure, they were in a precarious position at 12, but I was assured by a number of draft experts that either Gabbert or Locker would be sitting there waiting for a purple and gold jersey last night. It was not meant to be.
Leave it to the Redskins, the team of my home, the team that so many of my friends support, the team that constantly finds new and innovative ways to screw it up for everyone to make the trade. After the Locker's selection, the thought of having Gabbert still on the board was too much to bear. "They'll do it," I told my Dad. They'll trade up, package a few picks, and make sure they take a guy who some said was the best QB in the class. Gabbert, whose flowing locks would fit in perfectly next to Jared Allen, could be that franchise QB for years to come. They didn't trade into #9, and when I heard the Jags had traded into #10 I knew my plan was shot. The writing was on the wall for David Garrard in Jacksonville and they wouldn't have received value for the pick taking anyone but Gabbert there.
So now what do the Vikings do at 12?
Sure they've got holes on defense. Amakamura (perpetual sp?) or Nick Fairley both would have been excellent picks. They may have tried to trade down 8 or 9 picks and get an extra choice. But the Vikings know that Joe Webb isn't the answer at quarterback. Rhett Bomar (who apparently is still in the NFL) is officially number two on the Vikings QB depth chart. There MAY have been guys on the free agent list (if, you know, free agency happens) who could have played QB, but the Vikings needed someone.
Ponder scored in the high 30s on his Wonderlic, so at least by football standards he's a smart guy. He's got a good arm, is accurate with the ball, and his decision making has mostly been good. The Vikings' new West Coast system needs a guy who has all three qualities. He had a great junior year, and was limited his senior year by playing through injury. He's played a lot of football at a program that values it. Also, as a Hokie, I was very happy to see he wasn't playing in last year's ACC Championship game, as our defense had been susceptible to accurate pocket passers but shut down the less-experienced EJ Manuel.
If the Vikings had taken Fairley at 12, their defense would have been vastly improved (except that they still have holes in the secondary and questions at linebacker). You can have 11 franchise defenders and still go 6-10 without a real quarterback. If the Vikings hadn't taken a QB here, who knows what free agency or trades would have brought. Without any QB, the price of Kevin Kolb might go up significantly. Instead of "wasting" the 12th pick on Ponder, they Vikings may have given up a 1 and 3 next year for Kolb. Who's to say he'd pan out any better?
The bottom line: the Vikings had a need at quarterback and they filled it. They got a smart guy who isn't going to do dumb things with the football. They got a guy who can hand off to Peterson, can read defenses, and is an accurate passer. The whole "value pick" and "reach" nonsense is just that. The point of the draft is to fill needs and improve your team. If anyone can honestly tell me the Vikings aren't better off with Ponder at QB and the Williams Wall on defense than with Joe Webb at QB and Williamses + Fairley on defense, then I'd love to hear it.
The moral of this whole story is to not use bandaids where you need stitches. Ever since Daunte Culpepper went down, the Vikings have been without any real solution at quarterback. He who shall not be named (whose story I foretold here) was a stopgap measure - a mercenary who gave us one shot at a title run. There were franchise type quarterbacks available in some years, notably in 2009 when the Vikings were rumored to package picks for shots at Mark Sanchez and then Josh Freeman. Brad Childress's philosophy was that any idiot quarterback could run his system. A system so complicated that Brett Favre was still calling makeshift plays in his second year within it. For the dumb draft decisions the Childress regime got right - Peterson and Harvin chief among them - not moving for a quarterback along the way was short-sighted.
I'm hopeful that Ponder's selection, regardless of his success, will be the final nail in Childress's tenure with the Vikings.
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