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

[dead_poet]

ESPN's Louis Riddick ‏sums up my feelings nicely.

You don't just "plug and play" QB's in the #NFL in the middle of a season when he has had NO reps in your system and expect it to just work.

[Mothman]

ESPN's Louis Riddick ‏sums up my feelings nicely.

We don't even know if that's their plan.

[dead_poet]

We don't even know if that's their plan.

You really think he was signed to be depth/backup?

[TheFoxInDetox]

ESPN's Louis Riddick ‏sums up my feelings nicely.

In a normal offense, no. In an Adrian Peterson led offense it can be done. You don't need a very large playbook to get things started. It's not like they threw the book at Ponder or Cassel this year.

[dead_poet]

Vince Young has a winning record as a starter. This is meaningless.

Disagree.

[mansquatch]

I would argue it is not that much different than putting in a backup QB. Backup QBs get something like 1-3 snaps with the starting offense every week. Cassel has more time in the system, but it is still football. Also it is the bye week so they have some time to get him up to speed.

I guess where I see there as being risk is the incentives of the whole mess. Again we have a coaching staff fighting for it's respective jobs in the context of a team that desparately needs to find an answer at QB. The more games they win, the less options of high QB talent they have to choose from. This is 2010 all over again.

[PurpleKoolaid]

So we continue to neglect the defense, LB, CB, NT, and FS, but sign another backup QB, to a 1 year deal, for 3 million? And why could we get Winfield back if we can waste this money on a QB whose own HC didn't want him behind center?

[PsyDanny]

Also it is the bye week so they have some time to get him up to speed.

This is a strap-it-up-we-have-a-game-on-Sunday week.

Last week was a Bye week.

[mansquatch]

you are correct, but players take the bye week off (ie leave town.) So Freeman is on the team in time to take a full week of reps. They wouldn't have been able to keep the entire offense in Winter Park, so Freeman should get as many reps as would have been possible.

[jackal]

I can't see where this anything but bad news for Ponder leap to a long list of failed NFL QB's

I would like to see Cassel get at least two maybe three games for us and see what he can do..

From what the experts where saying Freeman's offense set up in Tampa would lead to extra picks ..

I know Freeman has an arm, but what about his accuracy ?

[dead_poet]

The case against Freeman:

• Over the past two-plus seasons he has thrown 42 interceptions, which is the most of any quarterback over that stretch.

• He overslept for a team photo early last month, which doesn't sound like a huge deal, except for the fact that a supposed responsible, grown adult - who also happens to be the quarterback and supposed leader of the team - missed a mandatory team function.

• He has missed and/or has been late for team meetings, which is unacceptable for any professional football player, but especially for a quarterback who is, again, supposed to be the leader.

• He was involved in a very public feud with his previous head coach, Greg Schiano, and the Bucs organization. This wrecked relationship could have multiple guilty parties. More on that below.

• Freeman is also a Stage-One participant in the NFL's drug testing program (still multiple steps from actually being suspended), although he claims adamantly that his presence in the program is because he once took Ritalin (not prescribed) instead of Adderall (his prescription) to help treat ADHD.

"Let me be very clear. I have NEVER tested positive for any illegal drugs or related substances," Freeman said in a recent statement about the drug testing leak. "Further, I have agreed to take, and have PASSED 46 NFL-regulated drug tests over the last year-and-a-half."

All of the above are reasons to raise an eyebrow if you're the Vikings.

But those red flags might not be all Freeman's fault.

The case FOR Freeman:

• Yes, Freeman has thrown 42 picks since 2011, but in 2010 -- pre-Schiano, pre-toxic environment -- he threw only six.

• Schiano seems like a total dolt. From having his defensive line charge into opposing teams' victory formations, to videotaping players' behavior on the sidelines, to having assistant coaches monitoring the locker room, it seems as if Schiano is trying to be a tough guy while overcompensating for the obvious elephant in the room - he coached Rutgers to a .500 record, then somehow landed a job as an NFL head coach with very minimal prior NFL experience. It's entirely possible Schiano is in way over his head.

• Before Schiano arrived to Tampa, Freeman was pretty damn good. In 2010 under Raheem Morris, Freeman threw for 3,451 yards, 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions while completing 61.4% of his passes. His 95.9 passer rating ranked sixth in the NFL. Freeman also led the NFL in 2010 with five fourth-quarter comebacks.

• Freeman's 2012 season was a lot better than it looks on paper - until the last three weeks of the season. Until a Week 14 blowout in New Orleans, Freeman had thrown 25 touchdown passes to just eight interceptions, albeit with a poor 55% completion rate. But he threw nine picks over his last three games while the wheels fell off the wagon for the Bucs.

• Freeman completes a ton of deep passes (defined as 20 yards or more in the air). His 31 deep completions ranked fifth in the NFL last year (although his 37% clip on deep throws ranked just 22nd), and his 23 deep completions in 2010 ranked ninth.

Ponder rarely throws deep, and when he does, the throws usually aren't accurate.

• Freeman has more upside than Cassel and Ponder. He just does.

• The Vikings didn't have to give up a draft pick to land Freeman, just a few million bucks.

Whether Freeman will be a franchise quarterback for the Vikings or another patch-work job likely depends on if his red flags are his own doing or a product of a toxic environment.

It's possible he just needs a better place to work.

We will find out.

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Mack ... ment100713

[Webbfann]

Wow. That one is so convincing.

[mansquatch]

Wow. That one is so convincing.

I find it humorous that you have chosen to rip a comment for being made without supporting evidence by making a comment without any supporting evidence.

[HornedMessiah]

I see some people saying that this move means that the team most likely won't have enough $$$ to bring back Winfield. Looking at it a different way, maybe this move will show Antoine that the team is trying to improve the QB situation and make him more likely to return?

[mondry]

I'm pretty happy with this pick up, #1 we upgraded the Qb position and #2 We took a shot on someone else's (what I'll call) "mistake" in that this is very much like Childress cutting moss after 3 games except instead of an old WR on his last legs this is a 25 year old QB with a lot of upside. 3. We now have the inside track on re-signing him should we want to. 4. We're being active. People will complain about the money being "wasted" but I just don't see it, salary space doesn't carry over from year to year, doing NOTHING with it would be wasting it and I'm sorry for those still delusional Winfield wasn't coming back. 5. Someone LITERALLY made a thread last night called "Anyone else bummed we didn't get Smith?" and I can just see you guys (you know who you are) ripping the crap out of spielman for not picking up Josh when we had the chance if he goes on to play decent some where else!

At the end of the day, Freeman's two good years are better than anything Ponder will ever do and I think Spielman see's Cassel completely as a back up. If they didn't, he would have had every opportunity / excuse to name him the starter imaginable.

How I actually see this playing out is Cassel will start until Ponder's healthy and then Ponder is going to get his last chance at the job. He'll fail of course because he's terrible and some where around week 11-12 we will skip over Cassel as the #2 and go straight to Josh for the last 4-5 games to see what he can do. While this signing clearly tightened the noose around Ponder, he still has to hang himself one last time. The other reason I think it will play out this way is we want to evaluate josh but also try and keep him out of the spot light. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense if we think he can be the franchise guy to let him go out there on a 1 year contract and play well. That will only make it harder to retain him. For those saying you don't pay a guy 3 mil to hold the clipboard well we're paying cassel even more to do just that! Essentially we paid 3 million for his free agency rights to have him in the building, with the team, on the practice field, and in the locker room so we can evaluate him.

If we don't like what we see, oh well, and if we do, we should have a pretty good idea what to offer him for next year.