NFL: Matt Leinart and Vince Young Get a Second Chance to Revive Their Careers

It's really amazing how things happen sometimes.

Matt Leinart and Vince Young are two of the most successful college quarterbacks we have seen in recent memory. They have both won numerous awards. Leinart won the Heisman trophy in 2004, Young won the Manning and the Maxwell awards.

Throughout their three seasons are their respective schools they put up video game numbers. Leinart passed for 10,693 yards which is the third most in Pac-12 history and 99 touchdowns. Young threw for 6,040 yards and 44 touchdowns, while rushing for another 3,127 yards and 37 touchdowns.

Both of their success eventually led them to clash in the 2006 National Championship game. It was a fantastic game that ended with a late touchdown run by Young which gave the Texas Longhorns a 41-38 victory over the USC Trojans.

Despite their similarities in the college game, their NFL careers are much of the same as well. They both entered the 2006 NFL Draft and were drafted within the top 10 picks. Young went to the Tennessee Titans and Leinart went to the Arizona Cardinals.

However, once they got to the NFL they realized that it is a different game and they didn't experience the same success they had in college.

Leinart is only 7-10 as a starter and has thrown 20 interceptions to just 14 touchdowns. He's only started one game since 2008 and many critics have already given up on him as a potential franchise quarterback.

Young has had a more success as far as wins go since he is 30-17 as a starter but he has thrown 43 interceptions to 42 touchdowns. He has often been benched throughout his career for his immaturity and has even been suicidal at one point.

They are both now the backups for different teams as Leinart now plays for the Houston Texans and Young plays for the Philadelphia Eagles. Both of those teams' starters have went down at the same time and it appears that their careers will get a second shot at life.

Michael Vick will not be playing this week in a big game against the New York Giants due to broken ribs and that's where Young steps in. He has only thrown one pass attempt this year and it was an interception.

Many people were ready to write Young off but the guy has talent and is a solid dual-threat quarterback in this league. The only main problem with him is his maturity level and can he keep his head on straight?

With more offensive weapons on this Philadelphia team than he's ever had at Tennessee, there's no question he could thrive in this offense. With the Eagles already at a horrible 3-6 record, one more loss and they're almost guaranteed to fall short of reaching the playoffs.

This could be great news for Young if he plays well because the Eagles may just decide to bench Vick for the rest of the year if they fall too far back in the playoff race. No point in risking further injuries on your prize quarterback who takes a ton of hits every game.

As far as Leinart is concerned he will have a week to practice with the first team before he takes the field as the Texans have a bye week. He will start his first game against Jacksonville and will remain the starter for the rest of the year with Matt Schaub suffering a Lisfranc injury.

Leinart may not have had much success in his short career but he played for some sub-par Arizona teams. They had limited offensive weapons and you could argue they made the Super Bowl, but Kurt Warner made that team more than anything. You couldn't name two other offensive players on those teams besides Larry Fitzgerald.

Bottom line is if Leinart can't succeed on this team, he has little chance to succeed anywhere else. Houston has a fantastic offensive line that will buy him a ton of time and have two great running backs in Arian Foster and Ben Tate. You also have one of the top wide receivers in the game in Andre Johnson who should be back from injury Week 12.

Leinart has all of the tools to be a successful quarterback in this league and he won't have to do it all on this team. He can be a game manager and make a few plays when he has to as he slowly begins to build confidence. If he can help lead the Texans to their first playoff berth in franchise history, you can bet teams will be requesting his services.

Both of these quarterbacks had very similar careers at both the college level and the NFL. And now they both have a chance to revive them. 

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail].