Peter King Says Matt Hasselbeck Could Be In Play For Minnesota

by Christopher Gates on Jun 9, 2011 12:54 AM CDT in Minnesota Vikings 2011 Season

We've talked a bit lately about quarterbacks that could serve as a sort of "bridge" should the season get started too late to realistically allow Christian Ponder to be the Vikings' starting quarterback for Week One. One of the options that has been mentioned is current Seattle Seahawks' starter Matt Hasselbeck, who will be a free agent when the off-season gets underway.

It has long been assumed that Hasselbeck was going to remain in Seattle, but at least one football writer has a different view on it, that being Sports Illustrated's Peter King. In a series of tweets, King predicted that Charlie Whitehurst. . .not Hasselbeck. . .will be the starting quarterback for Seattle in Week One. This would suggest that Hasselbeck would be departing the Pacific Northwest. . .while he's getting a bit long in the tooth, one certainly wouldn't think that he would re-sign with the Seahawks if he was going to be sitting behind Charlie Whitehurst.

When pressed to predict where Hasselbeck would end up, if that was the case, King said the following:

RT @SFH_Anchorman: @SI_PeterKing so again I ask, where will Hasselbeck be? ... Tote board: 1 Az, 2 Tenn, 3 Miami, 4 Minn.less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplyPeter King
SI_PeterKing

I still want to see Christian Ponder behind center for this team in San Diego. . .or wherever the Vikings' season opener ends up being played. But if the Vikings get more adamant about bringing in a veteran signal caller to give Ponder some more time, Hasselbeck is one of the better options out there, in my opinion.

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I always thought he'd find his way over here...

Always liked the guy too…

I'm still a Minnesotan at heart...

by urluckyday on Jun 9, 2011 12:57 AM CDT reply actions

1. McNabb to Arizona (has a house there I’ve read)
2. no clue from this point on. But Hasselbeck seems like a good fit.

by abba7 on Jun 9, 2011 2:47 AM CDT reply actions

Hasselbeck has always been my choice,

were the Vikes to look at a veteran stopgap/bridge.

I’m not opposed to Ponder trotting out from day one, but he (and the Vikings) could certainly do worse than to have him learn from a guy like Hasselbeck for a year.

by Jesse on Jun 9, 2011 4:33 AM CDT reply actions

My only reservation with Hasselbeck

is his back. One shot on that and he’s out for an extended period of time, and the Vikes go with Ponder anyway.

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by Ted Glover on Jun 9, 2011 8:12 AM CDT reply actions

Very risky

I still want to see Christian Ponder behind center for this team in San Diego. . .or wherever the Vikings’ season opener ends up being played. But if the Vikings get more adamant about bringing in a veteran signal caller to give Ponder some more time, Hasselbeck is one of the better options out there, in my opinion.

What if there’s OTAs, no pre-season. What if the NFL regular season starts on time and that players get no more than week or so to be ready to play?

Does Ponder still start?

I’m all for throwing a rookie QB in at the deep end and seeing if he sinks or swims, but honestly, that sentiment presumes that he’s at least gotten some training time in with the first team, and his coaches. Preferably some scrimmages against actual NFL defenses in the pre-season. But to throw Ponder into the mix, absolutely stone cold, is, IMO, asking a helluva lot from the young man. I wouldn’t count it against him if he went 1-5 in the first 6 games.

If Frazier & Co honestly believe the Vikings are potential contenders for 2011, that we’re not really in a rebuild but rather, a win-now situation, then putting Ponder in there right away is extremely risky. And Hasselbeck, with his season-ending-injury history, is even more risky with the Vikings’ O-line. If you buy into that pass-play-pressure statistic report that has the Vikings’ O-line at 15th, remember that the Seahawks were #1 and look how much good that did Hasselbeck.

I don’t see Hasselbeck as the right fit unless LF wants him more to stand on the sidelines and talk a good talk to Ponder, than to actually get behind center.

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by DCPurple on Jun 9, 2011 8:48 AM CDT reply actions

Frasier was talking explicitly about his plans yesterday

And he said he wants to bring in a QB that knows that he will either not be competing for the starting job or that will be starting for a very limited time.

by domesticllama on Jun 9, 2011 12:32 PM CDT reply actions

Another

Packer quarterback?

by joeybal56 on Jun 9, 2011 2:00 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

Yes

If by “Packer quarterback,” you mean “the guy that spent two whole years in Green Bay, during which he never saw the field, and has been the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks for the last ten seasons,” then yes. . .another “Packer quarterback.”

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by Christopher Gates on Jun 9, 2011 5:59 PM CDT up reply actions