What's your initial feeling on the Vikings signing Freeman?

[VikingLord]

Who would you like them to bring in? The choices are not exactly lengthy in October.

No one. They should take their Ponder medicine and be done with it. It will be a lesson well-learned and hopefully they spend the remainder of this season finding someone with a proven track record of assessing college QB's, then spend what they have to in the draft to get a guy who can grow into the role and be the long-term answer. There is no move they can make at this point in a season that is going to fix this. Not for a guy whose team, the team that drafted him, *cut* him after 4 games in his 5th season in the league. It's not even reasonable to think that, although I do see many here who are desperately going to try, not the least of whom is the friggin' GM of the team.

[King James]

My only problem is that four bad/mediocre QB's don't make one good QB. If it's Cassel/Freeman/MBT the I'm OK with it. If it's Ponder/Freeman/ Cassel then I'd say uugh.

Now you already know they're not going to get rid of Ponder. I wouldn't be surprised if they gave Ponder one more game to prove that he is still a starter

[VikingLord]

I'm most excited because to me it shows they recognize a weakness at QB and are desperately trying to get better.

Also, the real weakness on this team isn't at QB per se - it's in their ability to properly evaluate QB talent.

If they can accept that and work to resolve that weakness, the on-field weakness will resolve as well.

[thatguy]

Who knows. Provides a lot of upside at this point.

The only thing that REALLY concerns me is if the locker room has feelings about this one way or another. I can't imagine anyone being too attached to Cassel/Ponder at this point, but who knows what the attitude is towards Freeman. The last thing I want is for him to come in and people start turning on each other. If that doesn't happen, I'll just have to reserve judgment.

Ponder is still my dude, and I think he's the best option overall, but I know I'm in a shrinking minority when I say that.

[Orion]

well the bucs do have a history of letting players get away that went on to win super bowls.

[Rus]

A bold move made by a team that needed to make a bold move. Whether he's a fit remains to be seen. I can say one thing...Freeman has a history of torching the Vikings in games that the Vikings really should have won.

Some people said statistically that it was like signing another Matt Cassel. Wha? Freeman still obviously has a lot of upside. Cassel...doesn't. We've seen the best out of Matt Cassel.

A pretty big portion of the Minnesota fanbase has already dropped the axe on Christian Ponder, which is probably too bad. They gave T-Jack more time than Ponder. Guys like Ponder usually take a few years to develop. Sometimes, when what you have to work with is being smart and having great intangibles, you have to figure out how to make what you've got work for you and play within those limits. Ponder hasn't gotten there yet, and if he's given the chance and does get there, he might be a decent quarterback.

[VikingLord]

Ever been in situation where someone completely annoys the #### out of you and you do everything in your power to make them angry? Players are humans, it happens

But...

- Freeman is in the last year of his rookie deal. Why sully your reputation by intentionally tanking on and off the field when at the worst you have to endure another year of whatever it is that is bothering you?
- If Freeman can act like that in Tampa, who's to say it won't happen elsewhere?

Just like it didn't benefit the Bucs to "smear" Freeman if they wanted to get rid of him, it didn't benefit Freeman to act out if he wanted a change of scenery, and certainly not tank on the field. He's a 25 year old quarterback who has had some good to even great performances. The fact that nobody would trade for him speaks louder about how his situation is perceived than any notion he was just trying to force his way out.

We Vikings fans have recent experience with a player who did exactly that, only in our case that player, also going into the last year of his rookie deal, was worth 2 picks in the upcoming draft, including a 1st rounder, and that player clearly acted out in more ways than one *and* had an injury history to boot.

This just isn't what most people want to believe (and as I said before, that includes the Vikings GM). The Bucs had to let Freeman go, and my guess is that rather than ending up as the long term answer for any team, much less the Vikings, Freeman will be out of the NFL by the end of the year. The guy just doesn't want to play anymore. The game no longer matters to him, and the Bucs knew it. If Frazier and Spielman think they can rekindle that, good luck, but they have about as much a chance of doing that as they did convincing Harvin to stay in Minnesota with Ponder as the QB.

[Eli]

Here are his career stats:

2009 ... (10games) 1855 10 TD's 18 INT. (3-13)
2010 ... 3451 yds 25 TD's 6 INT (10-6)
2011 ... 3592 yds 16 TD's 22 INT (4-12)
--raheem morris fired, greg schiano hired
2012 ... 4065 yds 27 TD's 17 INT (7-9)

Yeah, boy. Impressive.

What a f***ing mess they have now. I can't say whether this is an attempt to salvage this season or to tank it.

Another impressive 1 year no-commitment contract offered by the Vikings brain trust. Did they give this guy $3M to be a 2nd or 3rd string QB for 12 games?

I'm convinced now, more than ever, that the Vikings' front office is as clueless as any in the NFL. Matt Millen would be proud.

[mondry]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1794 ... number-one

Really nice article that explains a lot of what happened in tampa. Also has his high light videos and the espn interview.

Sounds like Schiano really is that bad, possibly worse than childress. Talk that he may have rigged the team voting on making josh a captain again and someone on the inside leaked the drug program information (which sounds like it had to do with his ADHD meds) so that will have huge consequences if they can prove it was Schiano, he'll be banned from the NFL.

Schiano claims Freeman doesn't have the "fire" he wanted. He wanted his QB to get up in guys face and go ballistic on them if they made a mistake, josh is more passive.

Overall seems like at some point Schiano decided he didn't want josh to be his QB and then decided to just be a total dick in every way he could and once the poor play came in had his excuse to move to his guy.

He said he set his alarm clock and at some point during the night the building lost power and when he woke up the clock was flashing "12:00" and his alarm never went off causing him to miss the team photo.

All this stuff that points to his heart not being in it any more or that he's lazy all seems pretty far off to me and the "red flags" are barely a light pink.

[dead_poet]

My initial feeling: a poor waste of resources. Freeman is a lateral move, if not a minuscule upgrade. I'm surprised the Vikings had the cap space to sign him, but in case there was a chance Winfield could be resigned, that's out the window now. Frankly, the Vikings need to worry more about the defense than they do about the an offense that somehow is putting up the 4th/5th most points per game in the league. Hey, you know that QB that nobody respected that had defenses crowding the box in order to stop the running game, daring the quarterback to beat them? Pretty sure that's Ponder, Cassel and Freeman.

The only positive I see about this is the Freeman signing is a clear signal that the Ponder experiment is over (until next season when he's competing with a draft pick). And it had better not muddy the waters in regards to the Vikings' pursuit of a legit franchise signal-caller following the season.

It's, frankly, a little misguided and desperate to think that the Vikings are going to improve significantly with a guy of Freeman's talent level coming in, having to learn the scheme/playbook (which will likely be scaled down even further for learning purposes/his benefit), having zero chemistry with the receivers and then starting him and expecting a season-saving performance.

Wow, this is a mess.

[TheFoxInDetox]

I think it's a great move. I am a lifelong Viking fan who has watched every game for the last 25 years. I also happen to live in Southwest Florida and have watched a lot of Freeman as well.

All stats aside, a couple of things have been clear to me. Christian Ponder is a bad QB. He has looked bad even in his best games. His intangibles are terrible, his tangibles are terrible. The only thing that he brings to the table that is above average at the QB position in the NFL is his ability to scramble. He has no arm strength, no ability to read a defense, no ability to see the field, no placement, no touch.

Freeman OTOH has looked like an real, quality NFL QB several times during his career. He has also looked bad at times. He has shown good arm strength, good downfield accuracy at times, good pocket presence and scrambling ability when necessary.

My prediction from this point forward is that Freeman starts immediately, Cassel remains the back up and Ponder is either IR'd or possibly traded/released. I don't think the Vikings intended to sign a $3,000,000 clip board holder. The Ponder experiment is over and everybody knows it. He is a back up at best and I think he knows it.

Welcome Josh, we are happy to have you!

[PurpleMustReign]

My initial feeling: a poor waste of resources. Freeman is a lateral move, if not a minuscule upgrade. I'm surprised the Vikings had the cap space to sign him, but in case there was a chance Winfield could be resigned, that's out the window now. Frankly, the Vikings need to worry more about the defense than they do about the an offense that somehow is putting up the 4th/5th most points per game in the league. Hey, you know that QB that nobody respected that had defenses crowding the box in order to stop the running game, daring the quarterback to beat them? Pretty sure that's Ponder, Cassel and Freeman.

The only positive I see about this is the Freeman signing is a clear signal that the Ponder experiment is over (until next season when he's competing with a draft pick). And it had better not muddy the waters in regards to the Vikings' pursuit of a legit franchise signal-caller following the season.

It's, frankly, a little misguided and desperate to think that the Vikings are going to improve significantly with a guy of Freeman's talent level coming in, having to learn the scheme/playbook (which will likely be scaled down even further for learning purposes/his benefit), having zero chemistry with the receivers and then starting him and expecting a season-saving performance.

Wow, this is a mess.

Im surprised you feel that way. I see Freeman as a potential to be the future for us, clearly as best case though. At worst he's gone after the year and we are no worse off than we are now.

[Just Me]

Just thinking out loud. but what if the plan (in light of Ponder's injury) is to have Cassel be the starter and Freeman is the back-up? (Ponder goes on IR). Cassel just played a pretty good game, knows the offense (at least better than Freeman anyway) and the Viking front office (maybe?) thinks MBT is not a good option for a #2 QB. Many are assuming Freeman is going to be the starter, but I'm not so certain that is how it's going to play out. Cassel is obviously not the long-term answer, but he is the best option for now. Maybe Freeman is brought in to learn the offense (and be available for #2 in case Cassel goes down). The fact that the Vikes wanted to offer a 2 year contract would seem to support this notion. After having the remainder of the season riding the pine to learn the offense, Freeman could compete with whomever the Vikings draft in 2014 at the QB spot. The fact the Vikings wanted 2 years on the contract suggest even they know the Ponder experiment is over. Next year, when Freeman's contract is over, he can still re-sign with the Vikings. Regardless, I think the Vikings will address the QB position this year in the draft. (Don't know what round(s) they will take a 'stab' at it, but I think they are ready to move on from Ponder, as well.

[dead_poet]

Im surprised you feel that way. I see Freeman as a potential to be the future for us, clearly as best case though. At worst he's gone after the year and we are no worse off than we are now.

How? What about Josh Freeman indicates he's the future of the franchise other than the fact that he's not Ponder/Cassel? I don't see much upside.

Worse-case, Freeman performs well enough for the Vikings to pass on an early-round franchise signal-caller but continues the history of mediocre stopgap QBs that has plagued this team for decades, gives teams no reason for pause and sets us back another 2-5 years.

[dead_poet]

A person with direct knowledge of the situation said Freeman will not come in as the Vikings' starting quarterback; the team still needs to see if Ponder is healthy enough to play Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, and will list him or Matt Cassel atop the depth chart to begin the week. But Freeman, who reportedly had interest from the Oakland Raiders and Buffalo Bills after he was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, wasn't going to sign with the Vikings to sit on the bench. The Vikings weren't going to give him $3 million -- and make Ponder the third highest-paid quarterback on their roster -- to have Freeman hold a clipboard. This is now a three-way race for the team's starting quarterback job, and though it could still end with Ponder as the No. 1 quarterback, the days of the 25-year-old having a presumptive hold on the job appear to be over.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... n-notice-2

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Great! We have a good-ol camp battle during the regular season, likely splitting valuable first-team reps with three QBs that all have about the same talent. This will end well.