It wasn't long ago that Daunte Culpepper was the Vikings quarterback of the future. Heck, he might still be here if not for that fateful afternoon in Carolina in 2005, when he shredded a knee and never played another down for the Purple.
Culpepper was the 11th pick overall in 1999. He sat behind Randall Cunningham as a rookie. Then he led the Vikings to the NFC title game a year later. In 2004, Culpepper would have won the MVP had Peyton Manning not thrown 49 touchdown passes.
I spoke with Culpepper today for a story I'm working on for Sunday's paper. I'll give a snippet here before we head into Day 2 of the draft.
Culpepper, who's now playing in the UFL, said he has confidence that the Vikings found a franchise quarterback when they took Florida State's Christian Ponder 12th overall last night. Obviously, that's not a feeling shared by a lot of Vikings fans. Personally, I say give Ponder the benefit of the doubt. Just because we didn't spend three months being conditioned by ESPN and the NFL Network to accept Ponder as the 12th overall pick doesn't mean he's doomed to fail.
I asked Culpepper what he thought the No. 1 key was to developing a rookie QB who comes in with the pressure of being a first-round draft pick. His answer suggests the Vikings better get a veteran quarterback whenever they're allowed to get one.
"I think the No. 1 key is to remove the pressure to play right away and instead focus on his development for the long haul," Culpepper said. "I know the Vikings fans might not like this, but the Packers did it the right way with Aaron Rodgers. Just because a guy is sitting on Sunday's doesn't mean he is not working his butt off during the week preparing to eventually be the guy."
