The Green Bay Packers are bringing in Vince Young to compete for the right to backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers according to a source. The USA Today reported that the 2006 AFC Rookie of the Year was seen arriving at Green Bay’s Austin-Straubel Airport on Sunday evening.
Although the former Texas star has not played a down in the NFL since 2011 and is 30 years old, the two-time Pro Bowler could offer significant value to the Green Bay Packers this season.
For starters the Packers are relatively thin at quarterback behind Aaron Rodgers. Graham Harrell is 28 and has not shown any indication he could be a quality fill in for Green Bay should their MVP starter go down. Currently competing with him is BJ Coleman, a seventh round draft pick in 2012 that has not been able to emerge as a significantly better option than Harrell, and struggled mightily in Saturday night’s Family Night scrimmage.
Vince Young has experience leading an NFL team to success, and has made the Pro Bowl twice, his resume is easily more impressive than his competition in Green and Gold.
The former Texas quarterback was last seen in an NFL uniform during last year’s training camp while with the Buffalo Bills. He has played 60 games in his career as a member of the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles. His career stats are not overly impressive, but not terrible either. He has completed 57.9 percent of his passes for 8,964 yards and 46 touchdowns to go along with 51 interceptions. A threat with his legs, he also has ran for 1,459 yards and 12 touchdowns.
It is with his legs that Vince Young could add the greatest value to the Green Bay Packers. Throughout last season, the Green and Gold were consistently shredded by teams that featured a read-option look in their offense. There is no clearer evidence of this than the NFC Divisional round playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
In that 45-31 playoff defeat, the Packers allowed quarterback Colin Kaepernick to rush for an astounding 181 yards en route to a playoff record for rushing yards by a quarterback. He ran just 14 times for an average of 11.3 yards. Explosive rushes were commonplace, with 56 and 20 yard touchdown scampers highlighting the night.
The Packers coaching staff has been dead set on stopping the read-option this season, travelling to Texas A&M to compare notes and strategy on stopping the increasingly popular scheme. Bringing in a player like Vince Young could prove to be the perfect piece in learning to defend a play the Packers are certain to see a lot of this season.
Assuming Vince Young still has something left in the tank at 30 years old, he would provide the Packers veteran experience at backup quarterback should Aaron Rodgers have to miss time this season. His biggest benefit would come as a scout. If he can help prepare the Packers defense for the read-option his addition could prove to be the difference for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
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2 Responses
Vince Young? Dream Team saying Vince Young? Helping the Packers defense? Seriously? There is a reason first round draft pick Vince Young couldn’t unseat Ivy League Ryan Fitzpatrick. His brain function is below average. Reading defenses is not his strong suit. How in the world can a man that can’t read NFL defense help during drills? He didn’t even fully understand a simplified offensive scheme in Tennessee. Young’s value to the Packers is none, short and simple. He brings little knowledge which is what you want a veteran backup to have. He relies on athletic ability, which at 30 is not what it was in his Texas days or Tennessee days. Tennessee gave up on him after shelling out millions before the new rookie pay structure. If a team like Tennessee that made their offense as simple as possible to help him. The man scored a 6 on his first wonderlic test, and a 14 on the second, absorbing information is not YOung’s strong suit. Helping a defense defend Kapernick type players and the 49ers type offense is not going to come from a confused Young. This by the way is brought to you by the OLD Senior Sports Editor Steve Kish.
Are you saying that he will serve no benefit as a scout team mobile quarterback? The top teams in the NFL all have one, and he is certainly more capable of filling that limited role than anyone they have currently. If on the off chance you are correct, the Packers have no risk in the contract they gave him, and could simply cut him at that time. Worst case scenario, he is more game ready than Graham Harrell or BJ Coleman.