Vikings Move QB to Wide Receiver in Suprising Change
The Minnesota Vikings have moved QB Joe Webb to the wide receiver position after deciding his value was better suited there than as backup quarterback.
The decision, made by head coach Leslie Frazier, was based off of Webb's previous experience as a rookie and in Alabama-Birmingham College, when he was drafted as a quarterback-receiver combo. He also was unsuccessful in the last game he quarterbacked in 2011's playoffs as a replacement for the injured Christian Ponder.
"Coach brought me in the office and talked to me about the different plans they had and stuff," Webb told The Star-Tribune. "I haven't played [receiver] since my rookie minicamp, but I think I can adjust to it pretty good. You just have to put in a lot of work. Coach Stew (wide receivers coach George Stewart) will do a lot of that with me, so we'll see what happens."
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The Vikings have Ponder as starting QB and Matt Cassel as their backup, giving Webb full responsibilities with no worries on his new job.
Webb thinks being a quarterback is advantageous to the success he'll have as a wide receiver.
"I always relate things that I see on the field to quarterbacks- to Christian [Ponder], to Matt Cassel, to [McLeod] Bethel-Thompson, I can tell those guys what I see out there. That will help them out a lot, my quarterback experience. Also, it will help the receivers out- for instance if they see a safety rotating down, different coverages that teams prepare and things like that. I think it's going to be a big help," he told Yahoo!
He last played wide receiver regularly in 2008.
"He's such a talented athlete that we want to make sure that we're doing the right thing by him and our team," coach Frazier said in April.
