The Minnesota Vikings will hold one of the few legitimate quarterback competitions when they open training camp practices July 25.
In advance of camp, offensive coordinator Norv Turner spoke with KFAN-FM on Monday, praising his signal-calling corps of Matt Cassel, Teddy Bridgewater and Christian Ponder.
"We've got a really, really good group," he said, explaining that it won't be hard to parcel out snaps in the apparent three-headed battle.
"We get between 120 to 140 snaps during a training camp day and that is plenty enough time for all the guys to work a rotation and give them bigger reps and evaluate them," Turner said.
Most local reports suggest Cassel will get the first shot at leading the Vikings. Turner praised Bridgewater's arm strength in April, and he reiterated Monday the rookie is ahead of where he anticipated.
"I think that Matt Cassel has had an outstanding spring and is getting himself ready to really have a good year," Turner said. "And we know Teddy's been really, really impressive and a lot further along than I expected him to be."
While Ponder is expected to be a detached caboose in the training-camp ride, Turner took the opportunity to praise the former first-round pick as well.
"Ponder, I know people like to beat up on him, but I've been impressed with Christian," Turner said. "With his physical ability and the way he's worked and the progress he's made. He's eliminating a lot of the negative plays."
We expect the Vikings to give Bridgewater a shot to win the starting job, but it appears Turner will be happy with whoever earns the gig. It can't be worse than what he dealt with last year in Cleveland.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" ranked the top quarterbacks in the NFL today.
