mjf150

Combine notebook: The great unknown?

By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports
February 23, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS – Despite the national championship and the ensuing gushing only seven weeks ago, Vince Young apparently still has plenty of selling to do in NFL circles.

A poll of a handful of coaches and personnel men at the NFL scouting combine on Thursday revealed plenty of uncertainty about the Texas quarterback. Questions ranged from the garden variety (throwing motion, ability to fit him into an offense, etc.) to concerns centered on risk (Does Young's unique talent override the financial and schematic gamble that will have to be taken by whoever drafts him in April?).

"You're probably going to hit a double every time with [USC quarterback Matt Leinart]. With [Young], you're going to strike out or hit a home run," said Cleveland Browns general manager Phil Savage, who rated Leinart as the safer pick at this point. "When you're talking about $40-, $50- and $60-million contracts, you might be better off taking the double. But there's always a team or two that's willing to take that chance.

"The same questions that [2005 No. 1 pick] Alex Smith had to answer last year are the same ones Vince Young is going to have to answer this year."

Among those questions are whether Young can operate primarily from under center rather than a shotgun set; whether he can be productive in a traditional offense rather than one that is suited to his current talents; and whether his sidearm throwing mechanics will hinder his ability to be an efficient passer.

"I've seen tapes on him and obviously he's a very good athlete," Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow said of Young. "Until you get to know him better, you'd be crazy to make those kinds of statements [about where he ranks]. I don't know enough about him, … Not only what you see, you have to get a feel for him – what he understands, what he knows, what he doesn't know."

And those appear to be significant questions.

While workouts have the potential to change perceptions, the sense here was that Leinart – and in some cases, even Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler – rank ahead of Young on draft boards.

Excluding Savage and Chow, a poll of four personnel men and two offensive assistants (all from different teams) revealed a strong lean toward Leinart. Only one assistant thought Young was the best quarterback prospect in this draft. Two of the six thought both Leinart and Cutler ranked ahead of Young.

"If you think he's a pure athlete like Michael Vick, then how has that worked out?" said one personnel man. "Atlanta still hasn't figured out what he is, and they've had [five] years and two different coaching staffs working on it."

When told of Savage's comment that Young faces the same challenges Smith did coming out of Utah last season, the personnel man remained skeptical.

"Does [Smith] look like it's going to be an easy transition?" he said. "Not to say Alex Smith isn't going to work out, but you see they [the San Francisco 49ers] are going uphill with it."

Savage's thoughts were particularly interesting, considering the Browns aren't in the market for a quarterback and he has no reason to be elusive with his evaluation. Asked about Cutler, Savage added that the Vanderbilt product "has put himself in position to be either the second or third quarterback taken," seeming to indicate the possibility of Young dropping to third in the quarterback race.

"If you take a Vince Young, you take a Michael Vick, you take some of these [spread offense] players that are going to be coming through the ranks the next few years, you have to decide, 'Are you going to revamp and change everything and try to fit it to that quarterback?' or 'Are you going to try and put a round peg in a square hole?' " Savage said. "… That's the advantage Matt Leinart has. He's played in a pro-style system.

"With Vince Young, you see a handful of plays [in his college film] that really translate into an NFL game. You can watch 30 games of Vince Young if you want to, and you're going to come up with maybe four or five games worth of tape that really applies. Whereas Leinart, you can watch four games, and you're going to see four games of NFL-style offense."

That will be a significant reality in the coming weeks, considering the vacuum of workout information at the combine. Outside of Cutler, very little light is expected to be shed on the trio of QBs this week.

Only Cutler is expected to throw, and there continues to be a strong belief in league circles that the New York Jets are interested in taking him with the No. 4 overall pick. Jets head coach Eric Mangini refused to comment on any of the team's draft evaluations and general manager Mike Tannenbaum said it was too early for the Jets to form opinions about prospects.

"We're still in the data-collection stage of college scouting," Tannenbaum said.

For now, Young and Leinart only plan on throwing at their respective pro days – March 22 for Texas, and April 2 for USC.


http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

mjf150

The Vince Young apologists are awful quiet.

jergensl

because the truth hurts