August 10, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Joe Webb (14) tries to escape San Francisco 49ers cornerback Deante

We’ve already briefly discussed Christian Ponder’s performance in Friday night’s preseason opener. Ponder played well, completing 4-of-9 passes including a 52-yard bomb to Stephen Burton. The percentage doesn’t look good but there were three drops and two throwaways, one forced by pressure from Matt Kalil’s side. All-in-all, it was a worthy opening performance for Ponder, who looked much more sure of himself than when last we saw him.

Suffice it to say, the level of quarterback play dropped off glaringly after Ponder. Joe Webb was next up in the rotation and he was flat-out brutal. Reports on Webb from training camp have not been positive and last night’s performance showed us why. Webb seemed completely lost in the offense, spraying throws all over the place and basically looking like a guy who doesn’t belong on a football field as a professional quarterback. Obviously, Webb needs a gimmick offense designed specifically for him if he is going to succeed (much like Tim Tebow). Trying to run the Vikings’ basic offense, even in its vanilla preseason form, he just looks helpless and confused.

Webb’s only highlights were the usual Webb highlights: he scrambles, you think he’s going to go down, he somehow gets away, he manages to get the ball off before losing yardage. If Webb occasionally completed a big play down the field after one of his crazy scrambles, he’d be the stuff of legend. But running all over the place just to throw it out of bounds will not make you Fran Tarkenton. It won’t even make you Christian Ponder. On the basis of last night, Webb isn’t even the #3 QB on this squad, much less the #2.

So who is the #2 QB if not Webb? Some would like to anoint McLeod Bethel-Thompson. I personally am not ready to go that far. I get the appeal of Bethel-Thompson for those who want to crown him – he has a big arm and the swagger to go with it – but we’re a long, long way from knowing if this guy has any real potential as a pro quarterback. He made a couple nice throws in his stint Friday evening, but also threw a pick and got sacked several times. The sacks weren’t entirely his fault of course – he was working behind a fourth-strong offensive line – but at times he did seem to lack pocket awareness.

MBT does appear to have confidence, but it’s that gunslinger “I can throw a ball into any window” confidence. That’s not really confidence built on experience, it’s more the cockiness of youth. Ponder, by contrast, seems to be developing a business-like aplomb. Based on last night’s performances, Ponder isn’t just the #1 QB, he’s the #1 QB by a wide margin.

Sage Rosenfels didn’t get to work but at this point I’d say he’s the obvious choice for #2. He’s got the veteran presence you like behind a young developing QB. Between MBT and Webb, at this point I’d take MBT only because he looks more like a real QB, though he still has a long way to go in his development. On the basis of the evidence put forth so far this preseason, Joe Webb is ready for the scrap heap. Unless you plan on putting in a whole read-option offense for him. But that’s not really worth the effort.

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Jun 19, 2012; Eden Prairie, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson (4) runs drills at Vikings Minicamp at Winter Park. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE

Normally I wouldn’t advocate anyone subjecting themselves to four whole consecutive quarters of mind-numbing preseason quasi-football, but tonight’s Vikings-49ers game is a special case. The Vikings, I don’t need to tell you, are a rebuilding team full of intriguing young players we haven’t gotten to see play very much. After a whole offseason hearing about these guys, I’m curious to get a look at them, hopefully in extended action. So, for tonight at least, there are actually some pretty good reasons to stick around till the end:

1. Young guys on the defensive line

Alan Williams wants to heavily rotate his defensive linemen this year and keep people fresh. The team will probably keep nine D-linemen and we don’t yet know if Everson Griffen, who is splitting time between DE and LB, will count as one of the nine. We know the locks: Jared Allen, Brian Robison, Kevin Williams, Letroy Guion, Fred Evans and Christian Ballard. This means there are two spots open and possibly three depending on how they want to classify Griffen. D’Aundre Reed has the inside track on one back-up DE spot but nothing is guaranteed. Right now the Vikings have a bunch of rookie linemen fighting for these spots along with Reed and free agent pick-up Jeff Charleston. That’s a lot of guys in the mix. It will be worth watching into the fourth quarter just to get a preliminary look at all these line candidates. Some guy playing tonight late in the fourth – Chase Baker, Tydreke Powell, Ernest Owusu – could end up scoring a job.

2. Blair Walsh

By all accounts this guy has a booming leg. He’s been nailing long field goals in practice with fair regularity and sending kick offs consistently into the end zone. Obviously there won’t be any actual pressure on him with this being a preseason game, but it will be worth keeping the game on just to see what he does. Maybe he gets a shot at a 55-yarder late. A kicker makes the game worth watching? Am I being paid to sell this crap? I wish.

3. Robert Blanton

Haven’t heard a ton about this guy so far in camp. Right now he’s no better than #5 on the safety depth chart, well behind Mistral Raymond, Jamarca Sanford and Harrison Smith. There had been talk at one time of pairing him with former Notre Dame teammate Smith in the starting line-up but that appears to have gone by the boards. I just want to see if he looks like any kind of a player at all because right now, I’ve gotta wonder. Did the Vikings seriously whiff on this dude?

4. McLeod Bethel-Thompson

Believe it or not, the fourth-string quarterback has a hype machine behind him. Okay so that hype machine isn’t exactly powerful. Right now it’s made up entirely of Paul Allen and his blogging stooge Mike Wobschall, who have become convinced that MBT has a shot at moving up the depth chart and maybe even challenging for the #2 QB spot. But if MBT has a good showing tonight against the Niners’ fourth string? That hype machine will begin to churn. Of course it’s always possible PA is just hyping MBT so people will get curious about him and keep listening into the fourth quarter of the radio broadcast. A media person having selfish reasons for building up a player? That could NEVER happen.

5. Derrick Coleman

The Derrick Coleman story is a great one. He excelled at UCLA as a running back despite being almost completely deaf and having to wear a hearing aid. No one drafted him but the Vikings brought him in as a UFA. Coleman doesn’t figure to make the team, but that doesn’t really matter. The fact that he’s even on an NFL squad playing in a preseason game is pretty dang inspirational. Coleman should see action well before the fourth with backs Adrian Peterson, Jordan Todman and likely Toby Gerhart sitting out tonight’s game.

6. Who doesn’t love a good practice squad preview?

Cause that’s pretty much what the fourth quarter of a preseason game is. Except for the guys who aren’t even good enough to make the practice squad. Then it’s an arena football preview.

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Jun 19, 2012; Eden Prairie, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson (4) throws a pass at Vikings minicamp at Winter Park. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE

“McLeod Bethel-Thompson” wasn’t a name I anticipated having to type many times this training camp. Fourth quarterback. Camp arm. No shot at pushing Sage Rosenfels or Joe Webb for a job. Sure to be cut during the preseason. Why bother even learning to spell the dude’s name right? McLeod? MacLeod? McCloud? Eh, who cares…

But it looks like I may have been too hasty in dismissing Mr. Bethel-Thompson. At least one Vikings observer has taken special note of the lad, and believes he may have a future with the team. True that observer isn’t the most objective, clear-minded, sane and rational person in the world, but he’s not someone we can entirely overlook either. Paul Allen may not have a ton of credibility but he’s no Charley Walters either.

Yes, the voice of the Vikings Paul Allen has noticed McLeod Bethel-Thompson. And Allen likes what he sees. Tuesday evening on Dan Barreiro’s KFAN program, Allen singled out Bethel-Thompson as an overlooked gem in camp. But Allen’s praise of Bethel-Thompson went beyond the old “hearty pat on the back for a job well done, son” sort of thing. He went so far as to suggest that Bethel-Thompson may end up pushing Sage Rosenfels and even Joe Webb. Stunningly, Allen even suggested Joe Webb’s days as a Viking may be numbered.

I know what you’re thinking right now. Paul Allen must be drinking on the job again. Joe Webb is the #2 quarterback and ain’t no way some McLeod Bethel-Thompson is squeezing him out. I’d agree with you, except…well, I’ve been watching the camp reports and frankly, Joe Webb hasn’t seemed all that impressive. As PA pointed out to Barreiro, Webb has actually had a pretty bad camp on the whole. Furthermore, reminded PA, when you look at Webb’s overall performance as an NFL QB, he hasn’t really done anything to earn lock status as a #2.

True Webb has had a couple memorable games as a relief pitcher, and he did have that one nice start against the Eagles, but he’s also had other games where he’s been dismal. When Webb plays well, it’s mostly coming in during the game when teams aren’t ready for his speed and strength. Give a team – the Bears for example – a chance to prepare for him? Joe Webb has mostly been a lousy QB.

So if you take Webb’s spotty record as a player into account, and add in the fact that he’s not been overly impressive in camp? Maybe we shouldn’t be so sure about Webb’s status on the roster. What if Bethel-Thompson continues having good practices and mixes in a couple solid preseason performances? And Webb keeps stinking it up? It’s not out of the question that Webb could be bumped down the depth chart.

And if Webb gets bumped down from #2, really, what would be the reason for keeping him on the roster at all? Rosenfels at least has the “calming influence and mentor” thing going for him. Yes, I know some people love the idea of Webb as a multi-position weapon a la Antwaan Randle El, but honestly, does anyone think that’s ever going to come to fruition? The Blazer package is dead and buried. Webb is either a QB or he’s nothing. The way things are going, it looks like Webb’s career is leaning toward nothing. At least according to Paul Allen.

(note: Ponder started the Bears game as pointed out by the commenter below)

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