Impending Departure Solidifies Vince Young As Another Quarterback Bust

Hes not exactly Tim Couch or Jamarcus Russell, but Vince Young has ultimately fallen way short of living up to his top flight draft status.

The number three overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, Young's career has been an adventure on and off the field. While he has had his positive moments (2006 Rookie of the Year), his failures as a quarterback and team leader solidify him as a bust. Rather then focus on his many off the field troubles, lets focus strictly on his performance on the gridiron.

Above all else, Vince Young supporters are quick to point out that he has a 30-17 record as a starting quarterback. While it is an impressive number, it is not the be all-end all way to judge a quarterback.

-Rex Grossman, Tarvaris Jackson, Shaun King...three players drafted in the 1st and 2nd rounds to be the franchise quarterback for their respective clubs. All three have records above .500 as starting quarterbacks yet all three are viewed as failures. Vince Young is a favorable comparison.

Through five seasons, Young's touchdown-interception ratio is dead even at 42 a piece. By year five, clubs expect quarterbacks chosen in the first five picks to be further developed. Young has never thrown more then 12 touchdowns in a season and that career high came in his rookie year. Since then, his maturation never continued. He has been the same quarterback with the same production year in and year out. Through 47 career starts, he has only one game in which he passed for 3 touchdowns. Considering the numbers that quarterbacks put up in today's NFL, that is a putrid statistic.

From 2006-2010, the Tennessee Titans have been a different story every year. Young started 15 games for the 2007 Titans, a team that won 10 games and made the playoffs. Young threw for only 9 touchdowns that season as compared to 17 interceptions. The Titans were fueled by a top 5 rushing offense and a top 5 defense. Young was always the weak link. In the team's 17-6 playoff loss at San Diego, Young managed a putrid 138 yards passing with no touchdowns and one interception.

In 2008, Young was injured and Kerry Collins stepped in. He led the team to a 13-3 regular season record and the #1 seed in the AFC. It was the most success the Titans have had in the last five years and it came with Vince Young on the bench.

After an 0-6 start to the 2009 season, Young returned to the starting job and the team nearly made the playoffs. However in 10 starts Young only managed to throw 10 touchdown as compared to 7 interceptions. Make no mistake, the Titans turnaround was led by Chris Johnson and his 2,509 total yards (an NFL record for yards in a season.) During his 10 starts, Young managed to complete more then 15 passes in a game only four times. In other words, Young was the caretaker. When the team was battling for an unlikely wild card spot down the stretch, they had a chance to lock it up with a week 16 win at home against San Diego. In that game, with the playoffs on the line, Young managed to complete 8 of 21 attempts (38%) for only 89 yards with 2 interceptions.

2010 started off well for the Titans as they jumped out to a 5-2 start before collapsing to a 6-10 finish. The Titans had a 5-4 record in games in which Young started at quarterback. Again, the record is above .500 but Young is not the reason. In those nine games, he completed more then 12 passes in a game only once.

Now let it be known, Vince Young is not a total dud as an NFL quarterback. He has shown flashes but has never come close to living up to his draft status. His production is not the only thing that will keep him from ever being a franchise quarterback, his piss-poor attitude alienates teammates, coaches, and even fans. The best person to compare Vince Young to? Jeff George.

George, the number one overall pick in the 1990 draft, had an up and down career with far more lows then highs. At his best, George was leading the 1999 Vikings to a playoff victory over Troy Aikman and the Dallas Cowboys. In 1999, he threw for 23 touchdowns compared to only 12 interceptions. George had other success in his NFL career. In 1995, he threw for 24 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions. It gets better, in 1997 he threw for a whopping 29 touchdowns with only 9 interceptions. When you look at these numbers you may ask why Jeff George was ever considered one of the biggest busts in NFL history. Well, when you look closer, you see that his 95, 97, and 99 seasons were exceptions to his otherwise lackluster career. Vince Young is very similar. A few highlight plays here and there with a few good games, but for the most part he leaves you largely disappointed.

It remains to be seen how much interest Young will receive on the open market. His best bet would be to sign on as a backup with a team with an established coach. At age 27, he has time to grow as a player and a person but until he does he will go down in the NFL history books as a bust.