NFL Rumors: Minnesota Vikings not interested in trading Christian Ponder
By Josh Hill
Vikings general manager Rick Spielman has started to give some insight into what the team plans on doing over the three day NFL Draft this year, and he’s also laid out a few things that won’t be happening. While the team is expected to be in the quarterback market, Spielman made sure to note that Christian Ponder is not on the trade block and we shouldn’t read into his fifth year option being declined as anything other than a financial decision.
Why wouldn't he trade Ponder? "Because that would leave us with one quarterback." Says declined option to keep financial options open.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 6, 2014
Now, fans will be pretty quick to point out that the Vikings drafting a quarterback and trading Ponder would give them the same amount of quarterbacks they have now, but that’s not the point. A better way to interpret Spielman’s claim to not want to trade Ponder is to realize no one wants to trade for him, which sort of puts a kink in any plans to move him outside of a release.
Ponder may not even make the final roster when the season starts and teams know this, so if they want him they’re better off waiting for the Vikings to cut him rather than giving up a draft pick to get him.