The Vikings continue to wonder on a week-in, week-out basis who the quarterback is going to be.
And the question most people are wondering is why Josh Freeman hasn’t gotten another chance yet, as they continue to spin their wheels with Matt Cassel and Christian Ponder.
Freeman himself might wonder the same thing, although he’s close enough to free agency that he’s not going to rock the boat.
“I don’t think there’s any concrete reason,” Freeman said, via Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I think they want me to get more fluent and continue to understand the system, and I’m continuing to do that, learning a lot. I’m watching a lot of film and staying in these game plans.
“If you ask coach and he feels he wants to go with the other guy, . . . coaches are paid to coach, and players are paid to play.”
Freeman diligently avoided answering whether he wanted to stay with the Vikings, or say much at all really. He mostly said he was trying to focus on getting better each week to be ready in case they called on him again after his one too-soon start.
“Who’s to say — it’s out of my control, so I’m just controlling what I can control,” he said. “If they call on me, I think I’d be ready to go. But at the same time, it’s not really my call.
“I’m here to support Matt or Christian, whoever’s in, and continue to just grow in the system. An NFL offense — I know you guys really haven’t been around them — but they’re pretty complex. There’s a lot of ins and outs, different layers, stuff they might have run earlier in the year that’s a pretty hard concept. They adjust for a certain week. There’s a lot to take in. It’s been fun learning it.
“Of course, as a competitor I want to play. But I’m a guy who’s just going to work my butt off until that opportunity comes. Will that opportunity come again? I’m not to say. I hope it does, but you never know.”
In a weird way, Freeman might be better off going into the market without playing for the Vikings again this year. At the moment, it’s not exactly an environment conducive to making any offensive player shine.
By not playing, there’s still an element of mystery about his game, which could lead some coach to fall for the first-round talent which has peeked through the clouds from time to time, even if it hasn’t been evident lately.