All signs in Minnesota point toward Matt Cassel as the starting quarterback when the Vikings kick off the 2014 season, but the Vikings aren’t in any hurry to make that an official designation.
Coach Mike Zimmer said Tuesday that the competition between Cassel, first-round pick Teddy Bridgewater and Christian Ponder will continue into training camp. Zimmer said he wants to make sure there is a “legitimate” shot for each man to make his best case before narrowing down the reps on the way to naming a starter. The closest thing Zimmer offered for a timeline was that “it won’t be for a while.”
“The thing that I want to guard against most is rushing into a decision where we make a decision quickly as opposed to making the correct decision,” Zimmer said, via USA Today. “So, our main focus now is making the correct decision, not so much for the fans or the media or anybody else on this football team. And that’s really in regards to all the positions, not just the quarterback position.”
Unless there’s a major change in thinking between now and the start of camp, you’d expect Cassel to be under center for the first snap of the summer and that the big decision for the Vikings will be how much rope to give him before Bridgewater moves up to the first team. The longer it takes to name a starter, the likelier it will seem that Bridgewater’s day is coming sooner rather than later.
