Vince Young's Recovery After Relapse: How the QB Can Come Back in the NFL

There’s no question about the events that took place yesterday during the Titans/Redskins game.  Vince Young’s tantrum was unacceptable in any professional job.  To make a business comparison, Young basically told all of his clients (fans) to shove it, abandoned his employees (teammates), and told off his boss (coach).  Sorry buddy, that just can’t be done.

However, this isn’t going to be a “rip VY” article.  I’m no psychologist, but I believe that what happened on Sunday has stemmed from previous problems that have plagued Young’s career.  A few years ago, he again had issues with the fans booing him while on the field, and there were reports of him thinking of committing suicide.  Depression is a very serious thing, and sometimes a person can or cannot be able to control it.  Thoughts of suicide are obvious depression symptoms, and people that say that Young just needs to get over it and not be like this are not informed enough about depression.

Depression can be a chemical imbalance inside of someone, and even if they know their problems aren’t the worst in the world, they still feel incredibly down and can react irrationally at times or they can be a real downer.  This problem can be a lot of things, it can be stress you get from school or work, it can be immaturity, or the aforementioned chemical imbalance.  As a sufferer of depression, I can relate to Young’s reactions on and off the field, and people writing about how he should just hang it up and quit the game are just making it worse.

Is Young’s career over in Tennessee?  Unfortunately, probably.  He’s already had his second chance there, and the fan base is starting to turn against him.  It’s clear coach Jeff Fisher doesn’t want him on the field, and if it wasn’t for owner Bud Adams, Young would probably be gone already.  Yesterday, Fisher announced that Young would be put on IR, ending his season, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Titans let go of him at the end of the year.  I say it’s unfortunate because this would be similar to firing an employee because a mental condition they have that can be treated.  I’m sure Young has been helped by his psychiatrist and has been put on medication, but some of that immaturity can still be there.  Depression can affect immaturity, and even with the tantrum that was thrown it’s just another thing that Young can learn from and not do something like that again.  Comparing this to myself, I’ve done plenty of things I regret because of depression.  It’s hard to get motivated when there’s fans that are trying to boo him off the field, I’d fail to find motivation if I had people told me that I sucked at my job too.  However, this is the NFL, and instant success is necessary.  I think the small window of opportunity for Young has closed, at least with the Titans.

What Young should do now is to take the rest of the year off, and possibly the next season off to fix this problem.  Clearly, he has gone back to his issues from 2008.  The hardest part is admitting that there is a problem, and I hope he can admit it once again.  Treat the depression, keep in good condition, and train during the time off to become even better.  There aren’t a lot of very successful quarterbacks in the NFL, and Young has all the talent in the world to be a good one.  More than one team will give him a look, and I’d expect to see Young back in action for the 2012 season, one that hopefully is more mature and dealing with his mental disorder.

Depression isn’t insanity, and that’s not what Vince Young has.  It was a bad reaction to what was happening around him and he will learn from it.  Sufferers can all relate to this, and we give nothing but support to Young and hope the future gets better for him.