All Spotlights • Vince Young Player Page • TEN Projections • QB Projections • QB Rankings • TEN Team Report

Spotlight - QB Vince Young, Tennessee Titans

Posted on 7/1, exclusive to Footballguys.com

Jeff Pasquino's Thoughts

Vince Young is an enigma -- both from an NFL perspective and from a fantasy football outlook. Young has been the "next big thing" at QB for two years now, and I never really bought into that hype anyway. Sure he won the big game against USC as a Texas Longhorn, showing all the playmaker abilities that he personally had on the collegiate level -- but how often does any of that translate to the professional level?

The naysayers have always had their best argument on their side -- time. "Give Vince Young time to develop" they say. Well, with two years under his belt, what has he done so far with that time? His second year was arguably worse than his rookie season, as he had nearly a 1:2 TD / INT ratio last year (9 TDs, 17 INTs in 2007). When you take the time angle to Vince Young and say "wait for him to develop" - ask yourself if people were saying the same things about Rex Grossman or Joey Harrington or Kyle Boller after their first two campaigns.

Now, the argument continues on Young because he's multi-dimensional. He can run the ball and hurt a defense with his legs just as much as he (allegedly) can with his arm. Well, check the numbers. Young posted only 395 yards rushing on 93 carries last year for three scores. A scrambling QB with playmaking abilities that averages under 5 yards per carry? What? Michael Vick's worst rushing average was 5.9 a carry, and he averaged over seven per attempt for his entire career. The bottom line is that QBs that are supposedly known as running threats break big plays now and then -- and that's not a true statement or description of Vince Young.

So enough about history -- let's look forward. What can we expect in 2008 from Mr. Young? Well, the Titans did not go out and get him a big time target this offseason or in the NFL Draft (Lavelle Hawkins is a nice addition, but fourth round rookies are not big threats in their first year). Tennessee did add TE Alge Crumpler -- but if he was so good, why would a putridly bad offensive team like Atlanta get rid of him? Rookie RB Chris Johnson does come in to become the receiver RB threat, but that's not going to boost Vince Young's passing numbers that significantly. The truth of the matter is that the Titans' best WR duo this year is Justin McCareins and Justin Gage -- that won't keep any NFL defensive coordinator up at night worried about their game plans. Not even Justin Timberlake could bring sexy back to this passing attack.

Positives

• Vince Young enters 2008 as the unquestionable starting QB for the Tennessee Titans
• Young has two ways to threaten a defense -- his arm and his legs -- and can find the end zone with either attack
• Tennessee added a former Pro Bowl TE (Alge Crumpler) and a rookie RB (Chris Johnson) to give Young two additional targets in the passing game
• He was banged up for most of the season with leg injuries, which likely minimized his rushing numbers
• Mike Heimerdinger joins Tennessee as the new OC, replacing Norm Chow, which should improve the Titans passing game

Negatives

• Vince Young had 17 interceptions in 2007 and has not shown the ability yet to improve on his accuracy or judgment as a passer
• The receiving corps for the Titans is among the worst in the league. Justin McCareins and Justin Gage would not be starting on most NFL teams, and Alge Crumpler was cut by Atlanta
• As much as Vince Young fans point to his rushing ability, he had under 400 yards and just over five yards a carry in 2007
• The Titans are a rushing team, which limits Young's upside

Final Thoughts

I am trying to keep an open mind with Vince Young again for this year, but it is very difficult to do. I don't see what I would like to see when I look for a productive QB or even a QB that could be productive. His receivers are not very good, his team emphasizes the run over the pass, and Young has a questionable history when it comes to not turning the ball over to the defense. Even his rushing prowess is overrated, as he found the end zone just three times last year as a rusher (so did Tarvaris Jackson, by the way). Sure he will be the starter week in and week out for Tennessee, but what good is that if he doesn't post good stats?

Currently fantasy owners can grab Vince Young as their backup QB option as his ADP puts him in the QB17 range in about Round 9 or 10 of 12-team drafts (ADP of 111 as of this writing). That is a choice of limited value because for a QB2 most would want either stability of performance or big potential upside (to possibly become your QB1 -- sort of like Derek Anderson last year). Young has none of either of those things, as he has zero games of three passing touchdowns for his career (although he did account for three twice if you include a rushing TD) -- but more importantly he had 10 games with zero TDs in the past two seasons, including eight last year.

Considering all of the different aspects and risk levels with picking Vince Young, I would look elsewhere for your second fantasy QB if at all possible. Yes he will give you a good game on some occasions, but I would not be comfortable putting him in my starting lineup, and neither should you.

Quotations from the Message Board Thread

FUBAR:
VY is a polarizing player. Some love him for what he did in college and his pure talent, others think he's the biggest bust since Akili Smith. I'm a fan, but more for real football than fantasy, he's simply one of the most exciting players to watch even if you don't have a vested interest - maybe even more exciting, as interceptions can be exciting plays.

There are reasons to be optimistic this year:

1. Heimerdinger - expect a continued emphasis on the run, but more freedom for VY to be VY.
2. Chris Johnson - sure, the Titans didn't take a WR high, nor did they sign a WR; they still got what could easily be the best asset in the draft for VY.
3. Alge Crumpler - better than Troupe (what happened there?) and Scaife is still around, a pretty good TE combo.
4. More experience - he seemed to make every mistake he could last year, thought too much and forgot to play for the love of the game, I think he comes back from that.

25 passes per game, I suspect his % remains about the same at 62%, 6.7 y/a, 1 TD per game, along with .8 INT - overall improvement from last year, but nothing spectacular:
186 / 300, 2010 yards, 16 TD, 13 INT

I won't expect a big leap in his success running the ball: 90 / 450 / 4

Overall, a solid QB, but not one I'd want to lean on as my starter if I can help it.

Chase Stuart, FBG Staff:
Young was downright pathetic last year. He ranked 19th, but that's only because he played most of the season. Guys like Chad Pennington, Kyle Boller, Damon Huard, Matt Schaub and Cleo Lemon would have probably beaten Young if they started most of the season. To put the point more succinctly, the Titans team QB ranked in the bottom five of all team QBs last year in fantasy points. In 2006, the Ten TM QB ranked 17th.

I like Henry and Crumpler. I think those are pretty good additions for a team in desperate need of weapons. But what concerns me most about Young is his dip in rushing last year. He averaged just 4.2 YPC and had only 3 TDs. He scored 40 less rushing FP in the same number of games than he did in '06. There's a very real cap on his ceiling as a fantasy passer, so if he doesn't rush for 500 yards and 5 TDs, he's a QB3 at best in standard leagues.

Iwannabeacowboybaby!:
All true but are you completely closing the door on him? This is just his 3rd year coming up, some QBs don't even get a chance to play until right around now. He did have a poor year last year but he also showed us all a glimpse of what he's capable of doing his rookie season. Vince Young is growing up and will only get better. I'm not going to predict this guy will ever be a 4000 yard passer, because that's not his strength and it never was. However, the guy is a good football player and will perform better than last season because he's better than what we saw.

Andy Herron:
It simply amazes me that some continue to hold out hope that someday the light will come on for Vince Young and he'll figure it out and turn everything on or around. For one, I'm not even sure he "has" a light. For another, he's never going to be a traditional passer in this league because he's not that good. And people wonder why the Titans don't go out and spend money or high draft picks for WRs. A waste of cap money, that's why. The Titans are a running team because they don't have a QB to build a passing game around. How much more evident can it be? His rushing numbers will never be much more than he's produced in the past. NFL defenses have learned his tendencies. There are no secrets he brings to the field, he's very limited and everybody in the NFL knows it. So he scored 3 rushing TDs last year. Well, so did Roethlisberger. Big deal.

It's very clear to me where to rank Vince Young, which is not at all. I'll never draft him, so I simply don't list him on my QB rankings. (12 team redraft league) I just let somebody else waste a roster spot on him, and they still rarely if ever start him. He usually ends up on the waiver wire by mid-season, which takes me back to that "wasted draft pick."

He has yet to demonstrate any value whatsoever. 2546 yrds/9 TDs/17 Ints does not cut it in a passing league that is today's NFL. That's the reality of Vince Young. There will always be those who want to turn a blind eye to that fact, and that's what amazes me.

Jon_Moore:
The Titans are a run 1st 2nd and 3rd offense, so Vince will never have great passing numbers. To date, he hasn't been a great fantasy quarterback, but he showed serious improvement in the NFL last season, raising his QB rating from 66.7 to 77.1 and his completion % from 51.5 to 62.3. If he continues to improve he should be a decent fantasy option this year. They still didn't get him any wide receivers, but that's not the offense they want to run anyways. The titans want to pound the ball and have Young dump it off short to the backs or tight ends, so they went out and got the FAST Chris Johnson and Alge Crumpler--both guys should be instant improvements. Fisher has said that he wants Young to run when the opportunity is there, and I believe you'll see more runs than before from Vince.

Brewzers:
The responses to VY are always so bi-polar. This is a critical juncture for him, with 28 starts to his credit, he is at the point of he is either going to get it, or he's not as a passer. He needs to get his YPA to 7.0 or better and get the INTs down (17 is way too many). He really made some bad decisions last year, forcing the ball into places it shouldn't be. His (9) 2007 TD passes are an anamoly, if you watched the games or taped them, then you know he 9 had TD passes dropped...not just off the finger tips, flat out dropped.

Its critical that Vince improve his decision making, thats going to make or break the season for him. I think he gets it done

Vince Young Projections