Hartman: Cassel can be leader Vikings need at quarterback

While the Vikings still are trying to determine their starting quarterback, Matt Cassel has been the man most consistently mentioned as the presumed starter. If the Vikings get the kind of play from Cassel that he used in guiding the 2008 Patriots and the 2010 Chiefs, this team would have a chance to greatly improve on its 5-10-1 record from last season.

Cassel has started 68 games in the NFL with a 32-36 record, including a 3-3 mark as a starter for the Vikings in 2013. But there is no question he has shown that when he is surrounded by the right talent, he can be a very good quarterback and lead a team to the playoffs.

In 2008, he stepped in for an injured Tom Brady and started 15 games under Bill Belichick in New England. That season, Cassel posted an 89.4 quarterback rating with 3,693 passing yards, and 21 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. The Patriots went 11-5 and missed the playoffs only because of a tiebreaker.

Cassel was so productive, the Patriots were forced to offer him a franchise tag, which resulted in the highest single season one-year contract for an offensive player in NFL history at $14.65 million.

Once the Patriots realized that Brady could return healthy, they dealt Cassel to the Chiefs, who then signed him to a six-year, $62.7 million deal.

Cassel struggled in his first year at Kansas City but was protected by a miserable offense line and took a league-high 47 sacks. The next season, he had good support and led the Chiefs to a 10-5 record, reaching the playoffs, while posting a 93.0 QB rating with 3,116 yards passing and 27 TDs with only seven interceptions.

That's the kind of quarterback the Vikings need to succeed, and Cassel has proved that given the right team, he can be that player.

"Well, I think each [team] has its differences and sometimes there are some similarities, but I think here in Minnesota they do a great job," he said. "Obviously this offseason has been an intense offseason for us, and we've been working hard and it has been a lot of fun to be out there competing.

"It has been great working with Coach Turner and everyone else on the staff. They do a tremendous job, coach you hard, get you prepared, and for somebody that wants to learn and get better each and every day, I think it's a great fit for me."

Cassel was asked for his opinion of rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

"I think he has done a tremendous job," Cassel said. "Obviously he has come in here and worked hard. He was well-coached in college, has good footwork and a strong arm, I think it's just time on task. It's like all of us, we're all learning a new offense so it's just a matter of getting repetitions and showing how much you can progress."

Asked for his opinion on Christian Ponder, who has taken a beating from fans and the media in the past, Cassel said: "I don't read the press, so I don't really know [about that]. But I know that Christian Ponder is a heck of a guy, a stand-up teammate, he works hard, doesn't complain, and I think he's a heck of a player. He's a heck of a young player. He's only going into this fourth year. He's led a team to the playoffs, which is a lot more than some quarterbacks can even say, and I think he has a lot of football ahead of him."

"I just have to continue to learn the winds and learn the stadium," Walsh said. "Now is it going to be as consistently easy to kick there? No, it's not. Obviously you're outside and dealing with elements, but there's no reason that I shouldn't have very similar numbers to the last two years that I've had on kickoffs."

Walsh said he hopes to turn the stadium into an advantage.

"It's a very cool atmosphere, has a cool, college vibe to it," he said. "I'm sure I won't be saying that when it has 4 feet of snow piled on it in December, but it's going to be fun. We're going to make it our home-field advantage and understand the winds and the patterns but at the same time, at the end of the day, it's football. You have to go out there and play, and deal with the elements, and enjoy it."

• While the Twins outfield has struggled this season with starters Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia both hitting below .230, two former Twins outfielders now in the National League have turned their seasons around. Over the past 36 games entering Thursday, Ben Revere was hitting .381 with 17 runs scored and 11 stolen bases for the Phillies, raising his batting average from .270 to .309. And Denard Span was hitting .373 over a 30-game stretch with 23 runs scored and 10 stolen bases for the Nationals, raising his batting average from .265 to .295.

• That was former Twins pitcher Scott Diamond who outdueled Twins top prospect Trevor May on Monday night. Diamond is pitching for Class AAA Louisville, the top affiliate for the Reds, after being released by the Twins on July 12, and the lefthander threw 7⅔ shutout innings in a 5-1 victory over Rochester.

• Several hockey players with Minnesota ties made the cut at the Team USA's national junior evaluation camp Tuesday: Wild 2014 draft picks Alex Tuch and Louis Belpedio; Gophers forward Hudson Fasching; and two players with the U.S. national under-18 development team, incoming Gophers defensemn Ryan Collins of Bloomington and incoming Wisconsin defenseman Jack Dougherty of Cottage Grove. There also were some Minnesotans let go, including Mike Brodzinski, Tommy Vannelli, Taylor Cammarata, Connor Hurley, Keegan Iverson, Vinni Lettieri and Austin Poganski. The coach of the team is Burnsville's Mark Osiecki.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on 830-AM at 7:40, 8:40 and 9:20 a.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. shartman@startribune.com