The Philadelphia Eagles reportedly put former first-round pick Christian Ponder through a workout on Tuesday. Or, at least they were scheduled to. After Ponder denied the Eagles and head coach Chip Kelly's workout request last week, per ESPN's Chris Mortensen, via NJ.com's Eliot Shorr-Parks, Ponder was set to toss some passes in shorts and shells for the Philly decision-makers Tuesday, according to a report from Bill Williamson of ESPN.
Ponder was reportedly the apple of Kelly's eye after the newly minted Philadelphia general manager made the surprising decisions to trade Matt Barkley and jettison Tim Tebow, leaving his signal-calling cupboard bare beyond Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez. Instead of landing Ponder, the 12th-overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, Kelly and company wound up signing Stephen Morris, an undrafted free agent out of the University of Miami.
After Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr suffered an injury to his hand during the team's season-opening loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, reports emerged that the Raiders had contacted Ponder, who was with them throughout training camp and the preseason before being cut. Carr's X-rays and MRI ultimately came back negative, and Ponder, per Williamson, is no longer in the Raiders' plans, though the team has "been in contact" with the former Viking.
Ponder, 26, has never come close to developing into the franchise signal-caller Minnesota hoped he would be when they overdrafted him in 2011. For his career, he's thrown 632 completions, 6,658 yards, 38 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. He's also rushed 126 times for 639 yards and seven touchdowns, but he's fumbled 20 times.
