Quarterback Vince Yong was the talk of the football world after he led The Texas Longhorns to The BCS Championship during the 2005 college football season. After Young’s hometown Houston Texans did not select him with the first overall pick of The 2006 National Football League Draft, The Tennessee Titans selected him with the third overall pick. As a starter, Young compiled a 30-17 record with The Titans, but he never had a good relationship with former Titans head coach Jeff Fisher. Fisher did not want to draft Young, but he was overruled by Titans owner Bud Adams.
Young led The Titans to a playoff berth in 2007 and he might have also saved Fisher’s job in 2009. After Tennessee went 13-3 in 2008 with Kerry Collins as the starting quarterback, the team stumbled out of the gates in 2009 with Collins as their record was 0-6. Young then led The Titans to a respectable 8-8 finish. The relationship reached its boiling point after a Week 11 loss to The Washington Redskins during the 2010 season. Young injured his thumb on his throwing hand during the game and was prepared to re-enter the contest, but Fisher kept him on the bench. After the game, Young threw his shoulder pads into the crowd. An argument ensued with Young and Fisher in the locker room following the game with Young walking out. After the 2010 season, Adams had seen enough of both Young and Fisher and sent both men packing.
Young found himself with The Philadelphia Eagles in 2011 where he dubbed The Eagles as “The Dream Team” during training camp. Young went 1-2 as a starter last season and The Eagles finished 8-8. For 2012, Young was looking to resurrect his career with The Buffalo Bills, but after struggling in the preseason where he failed to throw a touchdown pass, Young was released by The Bills after the team acquired quarterback Tavaris Jackson from The Seattle Seahawks.
Young doesn’t put up pretty numbers, but he knows how to win. Young’s career completion percentage is only 57.9 and in six seasons in The NFL, Young has only thrown for 8,964 yards while he has thrown 51 interceptions to only 46 touchdowns.
Since he was in college, Young has primarily gotten by on his natural athletic ability, but once you get to The NFL, every player at that level has athletic ability which means that you must work hard to maintain it. It never worked for Young in Nashville partly because Fisher never wanted him, but Young still has a chance to rekindle his career as a backup.
The Green Bay Packers could be a nice landing spot for Young. Young needs to be on a team where all he has to do in concentrate on football in order to become a better quarterback. After the debacle with The Titans, Young didn’t make it easy on himself when he made his declaration of The Eagles in training camp because all it did was add to media circus that followed them last season.
The Packers are in need of a solid backup quarterback behind the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers after Matt Flynn left as a free-agent to join The Seahawks. Green Bay is the home to some of the most loyal fans in professional sports and as the least populated NFL city, it would allow Young to concentrate solely on football. Young could learn from Rodgers and Packers head coach Mike McCarthy who has groomed Rodgers into the MVP that he has become. The Packers utilize a spread offense which is something that Young is familiar with from his days at The University of Texas. Young needs to work on his mechanics which includes him dropping his sidearm delivery in favor of a traditional over-the-top throwing motion. Young is an athlete at the quarterback position and it is time for him to become a quarterback. Young will have to bite the bullet for now as there aren’t any starting jobs open in The NFL, but in professional football you never say never.
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