Happy for him

[bleedspeed]

http://www.ninersnation.com/2016/8/20/12572752/sam-ponder-tweet-christian-ponder-paint-job-incomplete

I think fans were a little harsh on him here. It would have been interesting for him to be drafted under the Zimmer era.

[Monster]

The thing about Ponder is he is a good guy and has some physical talent. Teams could do worse for a backup. If you need a more game manager type that can also move around well you can do a lot worse. If your system is one that chucks the ball 40 times or whatever that's not going to work. I think he could be a decent backup for a team. I don't think he will end up sticking with San Fran but he actually would make sense in Chip's system. Ponder actually moves pretty well I thought he should have taken off and run more when he was here.

Also the Ponder's are a pretty entertaining couple in a good way. They certainly don't seem anything like the typical celebrity couple.

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

Here is my feeling on Ponder:

When you look at the box scores from the AP year (2012?), you will see that Ponder played 8 good games and 8 bad ones. The Vikes were 7-1 in the good games and 3-5 in the bad ones. Now, if you are the deciding factor between your team being Super-Bowl caliber and your team drafting in the top 10, and you have the intelligence (graduated FSU in 3 years, and never used, um, tutors, unlike the Cretin QB's who may or may not have played at FSU), your entire focus should be on getting it done. I never got that vibe from Ponder. And evidently, neither is anyone else.

[Monster]

Here is my feeling on Ponder:

When you look at the box scores from the AP year (2012?), you will see that Ponder played 8 good games and 8 bad ones. The Vikes were 7-1 in the good games and 3-5 in the bad ones. Now, if you are the deciding factor between your team being Super-Bowl caliber and your team drafting in the top 10, and you have the intelligence (graduated FSU in 3 years, and never used, um, tutors, unlike the Cretin QB's who may or may not have played at FSU), your entire focus should be on getting it done. I never got that vibe from Ponder. And evidently, neither is anyone else.

I think you are hitting on something with Ponder that he just didn't get it. I never got the vibe Ponder wasn't putting forth the effort or wanting to be good or trying to win or whatnot I think the reality was he just wasn't good enough for 2 major reasons.

1. Souhan pointed this out in an article he wrote about Ponder that he lacked pocket presence. Ponder often didn't feel when or where pressure was coming from. He would literally run into sacks where his lineman would have their guy effectively blocked and ponder would run to a spot where the defensive player had an easy play on him. All this lack of awareness would lead to poor mechanics at times lack of decisions etc etc etc. of course the lack of pocket awareness kinda sucked because he was actually quite mobile and plenty physically gifted. He could have easily extended plays more and gotten easy yards with his legs if he was more aware.

2. Lack of ability to read and make quick decisions. My guess is if you put Poncer in the film room and asked him to break down what sections needed to be made he was terrific. He may have been one of the smartest guys in the QB room. I just don't think he could make the quick reads and decisions when it was game speed. To a certain extent there is no shame in that. It's got to be incredibly difficult. Of course his lack of pocket awareness contributed to lack of quick decisions.

Bottom line to me who I was always a bit netrual on him from the beginning but defended him a lot (his receivers were below average much of his career etc) but he just wasn't good enough. When Cassel came into the game and immediately did his drop made quick throws like a real QB I knew for sure then Ponder didn't have it. I go back to how many Vikings fans didn't like Musgrave. I was a little bit of a fan but didn't think he was fantastic either. Now we realize he had a bunch of crappy QBs and he was the guy that got the most out of Patterson in his career. He seems to be doing pretty good with that Carr kid with the Raiders. I always thought he was more of the guy that maybe wasn't the solution but probably wasn't the problem either. Now looking back Ponder was part of the problem for sure. Did he have some good moments? Absolutely. Does he suck? Sorta but a lot of backup sorta suck but some days they look good. I think I'm the right situation he would be a solid backup who could hold the fort and play .500 ball if he had to start a handful of game of the starter went down. That's not high praise or anything but it is what it is. I don't think any coach was going to elevate him to something significantly better than what he was/is.