MINNEAPOLIS – Vikings QB Christian Ponder, who threw two interceptions and completed a mere 50% of his passes in a 42-10 drubbing at the hands of the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night, has reportedly decided that despite being in the final season of his four-year rookie contract, maybe today isn’t the best day to approach team management and demand a lucrative new long-term contract.
“I should probably wait ‘til after the weekend to bring up the whole contract thing,” Ponder, 26, said with regards to his soon-to-be-expired deal. “I’m sure everyone’s a bit on edge from the loss last night, and no one likes to talk about money when they’re in a bad mood. No, I think it’s best to chill for a couple of days before I walk into (team G.M.) Rick Spielman’s office on Monday and demand a huge raise.“
According to Ponder, the negotiations on a new contract should be fairly straightforward.
“It’s pretty simple, from a slotting standpoint,” Ponder explained. “Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick signed new deals worth $115 and $110 million, respectively. Those guys were both second round picks in 2011, while I was a first rounder. So logically, the Vikings will have to give me somewhere around $140 million for six years or so, or else they might just risk losing me to free agency, and I’m sure they don’t want to chance that.”
Ponder concluded his statement with an ominous warning for the Vikings front office.
“They better plan on including a ton of guaranteed cash in this deal,” said the signal caller. “If they try to jerk me around with a lowball offer, I may just decide to begin a holdout next week, leaving them with no one to start at QB except for that rookie Teddy Whatever-His-Name-Is. So I guess you could say that I pretty much have them over a barrel here.”
