Vikings general manager Rick Spielman held a meeting with reporters on Friday and he discussed a number of pressing issues. The two most prevalent from the conversation had to do with coach Leslie Frazier’s job security and the quarterback situation.
Spielman on Frazier: "Leslie Frazier is not going anywhere." Said they are 100% behind him and want to help turned season around. #Vikings
— VikingUpdate.com (@VikingUpdate) November 1, 2013
Spielman said the decision on starting QB is all in Frazier's hands. Said signing Freeman doesn't mean they've decided on Ponder.
— Brian Hall (@MNBrianHall) November 1, 2013
There’s been a lot of guessing of late about who is making the call on who the starting quarterback is every week. The QB carousel has featured four starts for Christian Ponder, two starts for Matt Cassel, and one start for Josh Freeman.
Spielman also gave a pretty firm answer as to why the Vikings didn’t re-sign veteran cornerback Antoine Winfield.
https://twitter.com/GoesslingESPN/status/396396405662552065
The Star Tribune hit on some great points from the session as well.
On whether his job is safe for the rest of this season:
“Leslie Frazier is not going anywhere. I am telling you that we are very committed to Leslie Frazier and this coaching staff. And we’re committed to our players, and everybody is working extremely hard to get this thing turned around.”
More on whether Frazier still has support from Spielman and ownership:
“Our focus is on getting this turned around, on getting this changed from our organzition ownership on down. We back coach Frazier 100 percent and we’ll do everything we can to to help him get this thing turned around.”
On why he signed quarterback Josh Freeman if Freeman isn’t going to during the season:
“The reason to bring in Josh Freeman is, when I looked the situation, can we add a guy that would improve our 53? I understand the situation because of the sensitivity because it’s a quarterback position. But I also understand that if there is a player – and this was a unique situation that does not happen every year. Believe me, there were more teams than just us involved in this. I felt that it was an opportunity to take a look at a young quarterback, whether he played or didn’t play — that’s the coaches decision — but for us to get an evaluation on a player for the next 12 weeks since he’s been in here. You rarely get an opportunity to do that.
