Minnesota Vikings looking at Matt Cassel?

The Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Jets are three teams mentioned as potential suitors for Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel, who is fully expected to be released shortly as Alex Smith officially becomes the starting quarterback in Kansas City. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the Chiefs backup QBs Brady Quinn and Cassel will likely be available, and Holder writes that “word among player agents” has the Jets potentially getting Quinn and the Vikings as a destination point for Cassel.

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Cassel isn’t going to be getting a starting gig anytime soon, but he is a strong backup and would make sense for the Vikings. Minnesota is clearly fine rolling with Christian Ponder as their starting quarterback, and there are even reports that Percy Harvin‘s qualms with Ponder as “the answer” helped lead to Harvin getting dealt to the Seattle Seahawks.

So while Ponder is entrenched as the starting quarterback in the Twin Cities at this moment in time, the Vikings backup situation is less than certain. The Vikings would ideally like to have more of a pocket passer behind Ponder, so there is uniformity. Joe Webb is an underwhelming backup and doesn’t exactly fit what the Vikings are likely looking for in their second-string signal-caller, and Cassel would make more sense as the backup.

This isn’t the first time we have heard the Vikings linked to Matt Cassel, as Adam Schefter once named them as a team possibly interested in Cassel. There is speculation that the New England Patriots could trade Ryan Mallett and re-unite with Cassel, but I have serious  doubt of that happening. The Patriots- including former Chiefs offensive coordinator and current Patriots assistant Brain Daboll- are very high on Mallett, and they most likely view Mallett as the better quarterback.

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