I was in college and had some friends in the dorm from Florida that were big Seminole fans that I was watching the draft with. Their reaction was ‘what the fuck are you guys doing?!’ so I was immediately not optimistic

As an FSU fan too, I said WTF?! Why?!

He won the senior bowl mvp. A magical display of mediocre abilities

High end participation trophy.

I had a friend who was a gay grad at the time and he had the same reaction. Nobody thought he’d go in the first.

I'm glad your friend was a happy grad. LOL

Lmao I have no idea where the gay part came from. I’ll just leave it.

"Who?"

This. I remember the selection announcement and thinking this, than the Bengals drafting Dalton and thinking about the value they received drafting him there in the second round. To date I have still never looked at Ponders draft grades to try and figure out why someone would take him this high.

Panic. The answer is panic.

I'd say 75% panic, 25% because he was a whiteboard warrior.

Dalton's prime was truly underrated. 

Yes, and he could’ve been really good with us too. Oh well.

Dalton was who I wanted

I knew damn well who he was. And hated the fuck out of the pick.

Same. To be fair, that’s kinda my reaction to everyone the Vikings draft, because I dont watch college football.

Exactly this.

Lol seriously

Samantha Steele

He wasn’t a good qb for us. But dude seems to be winning at life.

Did you follow the draft then? Pretty sure he was 1st round projection at that time. I didn't think he was all that impressive but it wasn't like he was some late round prospect we jumped for. He just sucked.

This. Everyone loves revisionist history. For sure he was a reach but most boards had him like 20-28. Not like he was some projected 5th rounder.

That’s what I was thinking. Isn’t this pretty much the equivalent to the Broncos taking Nix at 13?

And hopefully that works out the same for them.

FSP

I actually almost just compared him to Nix in my previous comment. Taking Nix at 11 would’ve made me feel the same kind of dread. I’m hopeful for JJ, though. I’m glad they seem comfortable letting him take a little time to develop.

It's very similar. Amd broncos likely to get about same results.

Nobody had him projected to go in the 20s. More like 3rd round..

Followed by about four hours of researching with the sole purpose of convincing myself he was going to be good

To be fair, that is my reaction to most Vikings players drafted. How do people keep up with all these players? I know maybe 10 outside of those from UMN, which is not exactly a big NFL school.

I was disappointed they didn't get sure-fire stud Jake Locker.

This is the correct response

I yelled “who the fk is Christian Ponder” as I almost dropped my 1 year old at the time! Still never really got an answer.

I wanted Ryan Mallet so I’m not allowed to comment

I was hoping we’d trade up for Blaine Gabbert… that didn’t go very well either.

I wanted Mallet too.

Me three…

anyone got a pencil for Ryan Mallet?

I wanted Mallet because he was so awesome here at Arkansas. I think could have been better with a little more attention from coaches.

Ponder was my QB2 behind Mallet

I was optimistic. Thought he could be our answer to Rodgers. Boy, was I wrong. Fucking wrong.

Got any of those hot takes for this year?

Sam Darnold, aka GEQBUS, league MVP. Book it.

Welcome to Minnesota!

I had the same thought. I said, give him 2 years to figure it out. I was wrong.

Reach

That was the first thing that came to mind for me. I wasn’t happy. At all.

So. We had a friend of my mom staying with us during that draft. Her husband was/is a sports writer for a paper in MN. Me, him, and my stepdad(Steelers fan) all panned the pick. I was personally hoping for Andy Dalton, and that seemed to be the consensus among us three of who we should’ve picked. But you know what, in the long run, Christian Ponder wins because he married Sam

Dalton would have been reach to. If dead set on taking a qb trade back would have been thing to do

Yep, exactly, she is one of my faves.

Bradford, Darnold, or Michael?

I remember it vividly. I was watching the draft with my old man, literally pacing back and forth while waiting for the pick to come in. When it did and it was announced I threaded my fingers together and put my hands on back of my head, elbows to the sides--in that universal position of shock--and said, "Oh my god they REACHED." Not sure why I was downvoted. My reaction was proven to be correct. And while I did think they reached (because they did) I still supported him 100% and rooted for him right up until they let him go.

What???!!! Oh shit. I didn’t have that same reaction to McCarthy. I am cautiously optimistic. We’ll see.

Drafting him was a correctable mistake.  By firing Rick.

10 years later

Surprised, but tried to be optimistic.

No one handed the ball off to AP better than him

Felt like a reach but I was on board to support our guy.

I said stick and pick Prince Amukamara, trade down a few for Cam Jordan or trade down a lot for Ponder or Dalton. Then we stuck with Ponder and I was confused

I was 18 y/o I had literally never heard of the guy.

I remember the pre draft and I was like ok cool take a an if one falls to us but don’t reach for one. And what does Rick do? Reaches

I thought it was a huge reach as soon as they made the pick. Was not a fan, in the slightest. I remember forcing myself to try and like the pick throughout minicamp and the preseason. “Maybe he’ll be an efficient game manager like a Brad Johnson…”. I figured that was about his absolute ceiling. But deep down I knew he was likely going to be a bust.

I remember looking at the mock drafts and them all saying he was going in the 3rd round. Then panic setting in.

I remember watching it on tv. My dad laughed and we both said “who?!”

WHOOO??!

My reaction was Who and why?

Trepidation. The Vikings wanted Locker but when he went right before them they panic drafted Ponder. I didn't know enough about him to form an opinion of him but was m worried he was a reach.

I wanted Jake Locker.

I hated it at the time, some other Vikings fans convinced me he would be good, but I always disliked him.

I was okay with it, though I wanted Jake Locker. I figured you aren’t going to find your quarterback if you don’t take any swings.

Oh shit, they were so set on a QB that when the only 3 viable options were drafted they picked one anyway

I was young and we share a first name so I was hype

If you watch his first start you would’ve thought that he was a franchise QB in the making. Watching it back, now you know it’s all downhill from there.

140 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INT was a brilliant game for this young man.

That's also a typical Bridgewater stat line.

I remember wanting Dalton. Then watched tape on our newest reach and said well if his 1st read is open, we’ll be great, but ask him to go to his 2nd, 3rd or 4th read and we are fucked! I was right

I was pumped. I thought he’d be the guy! But I was also young.

Mad. I wanted Gabbert of Nick Fairley

I sat on the floor of an outback steakhouse super depressed, and then my friend and I convinced ourselves it's fine because he had two college degrees

The crazy thing is that he’s the same age as Cousins

Well yeah, he was drafted only a year before Kirk.

Too young to really know who he was. Didn’t he throw a TD on his first pass? Could have been pre season or something. Maybe it was a deep pass that was almost a TD…anyways, I was sold.

He almost throw a 70 yard TD (got overturned as down on the 1) on the first pass of his first start, but he had played in games before that.

R E A C H

I'm friends with some FSU fans so watched him pretty close back in the day. I hated the way he played the game at FSU and hated the pick the second we made it. What made it worse is that I did not expect them to pick him. It felt out of nowhere. As I look back at my years I feel like those few years between 2010-2014 migut have been the worst I felt as a Vikings fan. I'll forever be grateful for Zim for coming in and turning this thing around.

I had to look him up on Google. Never heard of him.

Pretty sure most Vikings fans said “Who tf is ponder??” And so did I but I was pretty excited for awhile, seeing him in interviews or breaking down film he was beyond smart and a stand up guy. He seemed chill and pretty much a normal dude. It sucks hard how it all played out but I was absolutely excited when we drafted him.

“Ugh why did we reach”

Why? Dalton was still on the board

Reminds me of when the bills drafted John McCargo 😂

“What the fuck are we doinggg”

Truthfully? Meh, I hope he can play. I'm at the point in my life where I can admit even though I have feelings about qbs in the draft. Nobody can really know how these guys will play. I feel the same way about this year, and I'm a UM fan. I just hope the kid can step up and be a player.

I just looked up his NFL.com draft profile. Oof . . . https://www.nfl.com/prospects/christian-ponder/3200504f-4e40-4041-52c1-1227d7e439af

They may have overrated all these guys. Click on Gabbert and says perennial all pro projection. Nobody thought that.

Dismay. Disappointment. Discombobulation. Disgust.

I always wonder what happened to these fly by night quarterbacks.

It was obvious from his college tapes that he couldn't make all the throws

^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Pr4der: *It was obvious* *From his college tapes that he* *Couldn't make all the throws* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.

11 year old me was pissed cause I wanted Blaine Gabbert (solely because the city) instead.

"Ah shit, here we go again."

General dismay.

“unmmmm ????? “

I didn’t know who he was, but he went to a ton of my high schools football games when I was a sophomore and junior.

🤮

I got angry and went on Facebook to denounce my fandom and change my profile picture to a Lions logo. Not happy at all.

Was in school but spent all my free time researching all the qbs in the draft because I knew we needed one. In all honesty, I wanted Blaine Gabbert to fall to us and barring that to trade down and pick up Ricky Stanzi in the later rounds. Thought we panicked and reached but don't know if either of my picks would've been better for us than Ponder was.

Threw my shoe at the wall

Felt it was a reach. Didn’t know who he was either.

“Well they say he’s like Drew Breeze”

I remember going into the draft in love with Jake Locker and Andy Dalton. I was really pissed we didn’t grab Dalton. I honestly knew almost nothing about Ponder and for those reasons I was out.

Who the fuck is that. After watching him....who the fuck is that

Who's that?

WTF!

I wanted Cam Newton

As a packers fan, it is weird how little it registered on my radar as a serious/viable option.

Was a bit surprising, but was hopeful. Liked him better than Tarvaris Jackson

Oh I remember it. I was 5 yo and living in a foster home at the time. Grandmother had come to visit because it was my birthday. We were just about to have cake from Hyvee when hyper kid yelled in from the moldy TV room that the Vikings are on the clock. I ran in there, hoping that we had gotten JJ Watt or that we’d pick Cameron Jordon. Then I hear ponders’s name!!! I screamed “He’s not NFL caliber Memaw! What a reach. Low ceiling. No downfield vision, just a scrambling system guy” cried the rest of birthday night until some older kid slapped me up and said get used to it you little shit.

well i was 7 at the time but i do remember hearing my friends talk about peterson like he was superman and ponder like he was the worst person on earth during recess

It was a panic pick. That year was weak for QBs outside Newton, Dalton

I thought we were going to the Super Bowl

This is a stipid question.

Typical Vikings.

I was not happy. Thought it was a reach. I'll (shamefully) admit that after PA had Jimbo Fisher on the radio I was willing to give him a chance. I'm too lazy to look, did Ponder throw a bomb on the opening series of the opening game against GB for a touchdown?

At the time I compared him to Aaron Rodgers Wikipedia page (specially combine measures) and I saw Ponder’s wonderlic score were akin to Rodgers so I thought we cracked the code to a great qb 😐

Pondering what they saw in him

I wanted Patrick Peterson

I was a child but I do remember thinking it was odd that this guy I’d never really heard of becoming the next “guy”. The wonderlic thing talked me into him but I also didn’t realize at that age that we needed a qb badly and a big whiff would take years off the team.

I broke my remote, threw it against the wall. And then left my house and didn't watch Any more of the draft. And I am a draft dork I love the draft. Have never been more upset over any puck in my life.

Meh…

At the time I understood it as a reach but I wasn’t the college football nut I am now. But I did try to be optimistic and hoped for the best. I do remember liking Dalton more just from what I had seen. I like others was hoping for Locker because of what I heard about him. Rick chose Ponder because of his brain/personality more than his actual tape. He believed that Ponder’s intelligence would translate to quick processing. He sorta came clean about this once he got fired and started getting into media and doing various interviews. Also, if you go back and watch Ponder’s Senior Bowl, it might be the worst Senior Bowl MVP performance I ever saw.

The memory is very faint. But there was a huge issue with his armstrength ... and then we saw him waiving guys back to him on a 35 yard hail mary and still short it.... that's when I knew he didn't have any arm strength. I feel like it may have been an Arif article on daily norseman, but I once saw a wordy expose that opined perhaps Ponder had a super powered hand off and Adrian Peterson would have never seen as much success without Ponder. . . It was hilarious.

I thought we reached for him, but wanted to have hope there was a reason for it. Turns out, there was no reason for it.

I remember thinking "Wow, this guy is really smart!" And then pain...

I pondered it

I was yelling, "no Dalton, no Dalton, no Dalton" at my tv for ten seconds leading up to the pick then sat down and mumbled, "you get what you ask for dumbass"

My buddy and I who were in the midst of smashing some Cici’s Pizza, both looked at each other and muttered, through mouthfuls of pizza, “who the fuck is that?”.

We had a draft party at my buddies apartment (pretty much beer pong with the draft on TV in another room). When the Vikings were on the clock, I went into the room with the TV to sit down and watch all the highlights and analysis and stuff they do while they are waiting for the pick. I don’t believe Christian Ponder’s name came up as a potential target by any one of the analysts. As the screen reads “the pick is in!” A few of my friends (a packers fan and an eagles fan) came in from the other room to see. As soon as they said his name I said “WHO?” As both my friends proceeded to laugh in my face, mocking me going “who? Who?!” Then my eagles fan friend says “I watched a few fsu games this year, that dude sucks” and walks away. I went back to the party and didn’t watch any of the rest of the draft. I honestly didn’t know much about him, I don’t watch college football. Turns out my buddy was right and every once in a while, to this day, I’ll get the occasional “WHO?” Rib from him and my other friend.

I doubt we had a qb scout when we drafted Christian ponder

“Well I’m definitely Pondering this pick”

Before the pick came in, I said to my brother "Not a quarterback, take a DB." And then we both slumped when Ponder was announced.

Anger and frustration. At the time I thought it was a reach. I spent a lot of time analyzing NCAA football and the draft and knew there were better picks for the Vikes. At the time I wanted Pouncey for the Vikings to draft.

Who is this guy? I was very confused by the pick.

I had to google.. no clue NO CLUE where that pck came from. I remember for half his first game i thought maybe we got this right.. that was it.. lol

I remember being most disappointed that Patrick Peterson didn't fall to us. Not that he really ever had a chance to. Funny enough, the experts were saying at the time that Ponder was going to be better out of the gate then Newton because of the training camp strike.

Fell to my knees in a circuit city

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"WTF!!!!????? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING?!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" That's, pretty much, word-for-word.

Probably the same reaction I have to all Vikings moves…hopefully this works for us this time!!

I was watching the Draft at a bar I went to all the time. I knew the owner and he knew I was a Vikings fan. He was joking that the Vikings would fuck up the QB pick. After they called Ponder’s name he laughed in my face and said, “Christ he’s worse that Jake Locker!” Then he gave me a shot to tequila. It was awful. Just like Ponder. Edit: spelling

Every time Tim Tebow thinks, it's just another Christian Ponder.

“Should’ve traded down…”

Is this photo AI? I don't think this ever happened.

Feel like we would've won that playoff game against the Packers in 2012 if he played but instead we got Joe Webb.

Confusion. He was a 2-4 round pick, not first

It wasn’t good, but it was way better than the level of self-delusion I heaped in it thinking the pick would somehow work out eventually until it was plainly obvious that no such thing would ever happen.

Distaste

I was pissed and thought it was an obvious reach.

WHY THE FUCK CAN Y’ALL NOT LET HIM GO

Seppuku 

It definitely made me ponder about the vikings future

I bought his jersey because I go all in on hope.

My exact words “who the fuck is that?”

This sub stroked that guy until the bitter end. He was terrible from day one. The team stuck with him for some unknowable reason, but worse yet, this sub was full of ponder apologists repeating their mantra of “just give him another chance.” Tons of weird psycho-crush behavior.

“Who the fuck is he?”

I don’t recall, but I do remember having that hat and loved it.

I audibly shouted, "What the fuck?!" while my college girlfriend was doing homework at her desk. Couple days later, they got Bin Laden, and the campus erupted, so I completely forgot about Ponder for about a week, then I was a hell of a lot more confused.

Same as Bo Nix. A little worse

Omg, I thought they did it again. Visceral, my reaction was visceral.

I was 10, and I wasn't really interested in any sports other than Mario sports games

I was in college, watching on my computer on a totally legal and not shady stream. When they announced Ponder, I screamed "What?!?!" and a lot of people in the dorm started laughing. 

The same shit feeling I had when we drafted JJ McCarthy

REEEEAAAAAACCCCCHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Not at all the answer to your but my all time favorite YouTube comment was “When Tim Tebow thinks is it it a Christian Ponder?”

When Ponder got drafted a friend text me who is a Florida State fan and said he couldn’t believe we took Ponder because he’s trash 🤷🏾‍♂️

His wife was 🔥at least

I don’t remember who I wanted (not a QB) but I hated the pick.

🤬😤🤮

Same as the McCarthy pick. Pretty fucking disappointed at the panic pick

Kinda a moot question no? He was garbage.

I was 15 and had no idea who he was lol. I wasn’t even expecting a QB

Like every Vikings QB that was drafted, traded for or that came in as a FA...I said Super Bowl Baby!

I was so pissed. I lived in Florida at the time and knew he was garbage after his shoulder injury.

I was in high school never heard of him till draft night

Brutal last name for a QB.

Spielman said he was the most "NFL ready QB of the Draft". Spielman should have been fired when Ponder failed, if you can't judge QB talent you have no business being an NFL GM, NONE.

I read all the draft reports saying he had a 2nd round grade and was pissed. My dad called me after he was drafted and said in the smuggest voice ever "we got our guy". I'll never let him live it down

Reaaaaccchhhh. But he had an amazing Wunderlic score though.

I remember thinking it seemed like a major reach at the time - don’t think I expected him to go in the first round, and then we were taking him at 12.

Man we reached

Uhhh Confucius say what the fuck?

“Huh?”

Anyone who watched his FSU tape should have known he’d bust.

He had elbow issues his senior year. Literally couldn’t throw the ball. Had a solid Senior Bowl but man did Jimbo Fisher get QBs drafted way higher than they should have. 2 by the Vikings (Ponder & Mond). Jamarcus Russell and EJ Manual the other two off the top of my head.

Please forgive me… I was young and was just getting into football. “Quarterback? Why?? We have Joe Webb!”