NFL Rumors: Matt Cassel took first team reps at Minnesota Vikings OTA’s
By Bryan Rose
The Minnesota Vikings have said more than once they don’t plan to rush rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
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That doesn’t mean the former Louisville product won’t be the starting quarterback at some point this season, though it seems rather unlikely he’ll break camp as the starter barring injury.
Absent from the Minnesota Vikings OTA’s on Thursday, Bridgewater wasn’t around to see that it was Matt Cassel who took all of the first team reps, leaving Christian Ponder as the clear cut clipboard holder.
Even worse? When Ponder was on the field, the results apparently weren’t pretty.
“Cassel took all the first-team reps today. Ponder looked like Ponder,” says Tom Pelissero. “As you were.”
While Cassel may not be the favorite among fans to start as many would understandably like to see the excitement of Bridgewater under center, it sounds more and more likely that the veteran will be the Vikings starter when they open their season.
The bigger competition seems to be who will backup Cassel. Will it be Bridgewater? Or will it be Ponder? The Vikings likely don’t want to throw Bridgewater into the fire if Cassel was to get hurt, though, they’ve already seen what Ponder has to offer and the results are rather unimpressive.
Rumors have hinted that the Vikings could explore trading Ponder as well, so it seems as if Bridgewater could find his way into backup duties assuming he continues to progress at a good clip and Ponder continues to be, well, Ponder.
For now though, the starter duties appear Cassel’s to lose.