New Vikings Quarterback Ponder Another Draft Failure

With the 12th overall pick in the draft (12th!), the Vikings addressed a short-term problem with a long-term solution. 

With few exceptions, the 1st round pick of an NFL team needs to be a player that can step in and start, at a minimum, or make a difference in the team at the maximum.  By drafting Ponder where they did, the Vikings' brain-trust chose to forgo a difference-maker and acquire a project - one that will take multiple seasons to fully develop, if he pans out at all. 

Folks, this is team that was 6-10 last year, and finished last in the NFC North.  They needed to find a way to get immediately better with the draft.  Instead, they took a pick that was nearly universally slotted for the 2nd round, and did so without even trading down to improve their lot.  Even if Ponder was absolutely THE player the Vikings needed to take, he could and should have been had much more cheaply. 

Last week when I flew out to Seattle, our departing plane flew over an embarrassing, still-deflated Metrodome.  Who knew that such a visual would represent a harbinger of yet another Minnesota Vikings draft day epic failure?