Titans Owner Bud Adams Is Right: Play Vince Young Already

While I don’t agree with how he made it public, Bud Adams is right.  The Titans need to play Vince Young and find out if he’s ever going to be their starting quarterback again.

As part of my Week 6 column , I made a statistical comparison of Kerry Collins and Vince Young over the past 3 seasons, and it’s pretty clear that Collins has performed at a higher level than his understudy. 

Even though Collins has proven to be the better quarterback, I still think Young needs to start for the rest of the season.

Kerry Collins is 34 years old and has never had a passer rating higher than 85.4, which came during the 2002 season.  Yes, he peaked 7 years ago.  While I admire his longevity and willingness to take a back seat when needed, he is not the quarterback to take the Titans to the Superbowl.

Vince Young, however, is 26 years old, and only has 2 full seasons as a starter to put on his resume.  Most quarterbacks don’t peak until their 4th or 5th seasons under center.  He has proven in the past that he has a knack for coming up big, just watch the tape versus USC as a senior or against the Giants in his rookie year.  He was 18-11 as a starter in his first 3 NFL seasons. 

Vince also gives the Titans another dimension to their offense.  His legs can help them gain first downs when receivers are covered, but they can also freeze a linebacker on play-action or a fake roll-out.  Chris Johnson would love to have a linebacker occupied with spying Young the next time he runs the stretch play.

More than anything, the Titans need to make a decision for next year.  They have a known commodity in Collins and a complete unknown in Young.  Isn’t a 10-game trial the ideal way to find out?  It’s not like they have to start JaMarcus Russell or Derek Anderson.

The cap hit for Young next season is $14.2 million.  It’s time to find out whether he’s worth it.