"If He's The Future, I'd Better Get Out Of This Game" - NY Giants DE Mike Strahan On Vince Young

From the USA TODAY:

NFL Report: Opinions still vary on Young; Hasselbeck on Favre
Posted 5/3/2006 6:01 PM ET


By Jim Corbett, USA TODAY

Vince Young is a fear-factor quarterback.

The 6-5, 229-pound Young scares defenders with his size and 4.48 speed. He also scares some old-school talent evaluators, raised on the traditional definition of a drop-back passer, who can't figure out what to make of him.

Opinions on the Titans' third overall selection in last weekend's draft range as wildly as one of Young's electrifying broken-field runs.

Here are a few:

"I think if that's the future of quarterbacks, then I better hurry up and get out of this game," Giants Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan says. "He's fast. He's strong, and he has a great arm. He's the next-generation Randall Cunningham, except that he's bulkier. He's got a real cool demeanor and never gets flustered.

"He's phenomenal. I've never seen a guy take a game in his hands and take it over like he did in the national championship game against USC. He's the type of player you can build around in this league as a franchise player."

Titans general manager Floyd Reese clearly sees Young that way, selecting him with the No. 3 pick. So does former Broncos, Giants and Falcons coach Dan Reeves, who says Young's playmaking ability and rugged style is reminiscent of a Hall of Fame quarterback he coached in Denver, John Elway. Reeves says Young just needs time to refine his passing skills.

"John was further along as a passer than Vince at this point," Reeves says. "But John loved the shotgun because it gave him an extra second to see the field.

"John and Vince have a lot of escapability and they have the size and strength to shake off that first tackle. I don't think it'll take Vince long to catch up. He improved a lot last year as a passer. Like John, Vince seems to thrive when the game's on the line, and he can hurt you as a runner as well as throwing."

Last September, Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian openly pondered the league's new trend toward more athletic and rugged quarterbacks raised on the shotgun formation.

While Young is considered a better passer coming out of college than Michael Vick, the top overall pick in 2001, personnel men such as Polian worry about Young's shelf life in the bigger, tougher NFL world. Young's predecessor and longtime mentor, Steve McNair, has absorbed many injuries with his rugged playing style, possibly taking years off his career.

"For me, the biggest question is how the game is going to change; if it's going to change to accommodate the Michael Vicks and Vince Youngs, because Steve McNair, for all of his greatness, has spent a lot of time being hurt," Polian said. "The question is, can the pure running quarterback, the guy who makes his living running the ball, can that guy survive in the NFL? Steve Young did it. But there's more and more of those guys coming in.

"That's what I see at the college level every week. It's an interesting down-the-road trend. Whither Vince Young? Will he hold up? I don't know."

That day is here.

And now it's Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow's job to get Young ready to play because McNair's ongoing contract dispute might lead to a trade and backup Billy Volek isn't the long-term answer.

Chow coached Philip Rivers, the Chargers quarterback with the same funky sidearm throwing motion as Young, at North Carolina State. But that's where the similarities end. Rivers is a classic drop-back quarterback. Young, who completed 61.8% of his passes at Texas, is attempting to show he can make the transition from shotgun, one-read-and-go college quarterback to polished drop-back NFL passer.

"Vince Young is the wild card of this draft," NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock says. "He has a lot to learn regarding an NFL passing system. He doesn't understand how to process yet where to go with the football. Norm Chow has this unbelievable talent; he has to figure out how to best utilize what Vince can do."

Old ally one key to Favre return

Matt Hasselbeck says he wouldn't have been surprised if Brett Favre rode off into the sunset on his John Deere tractor.

Favre's former understudy believed the Packers legend wouldn't risk a repeat of the worst season of his career — a 4-12, 29-interception nightmare compounded by injuries that left Favre with receivers straight from an NFL Europe lineup.

"I'm a little surprised, but at the same time, the whole time I've known Brett, he's always surprised me," Hasselbeck said. "I know that he loves to win, and it's no fun when you lose."

Hasselbeck thinks one of the deciding factors for Favre was the relationship he forged with new Packers head coach Mike McCarthy when McCarthy was the Green Bay quarterbacks coach in 1999.

McCarthy, 42, the son of a fireman, is a blue-collar guy players enjoy. But when it's time to work, McCarthy is known for his toughness and emphasis on preparation.

"I know that Brett's relationship with Mike McCarthy has got to have a lot to do with the fact he's coming back," Hasselbeck says. "That's not to say anything about Mike Sherman. But I was there with Brett and (McCarthy). That was a year in his life when a lot of things changed. Brett quit drinking. He became a really good dad, a really good husband. There's a special friendship there between those guys."

Favre just had to take time to get his mind right.

"The thing Brett talked about with me was he was discouraged about how last year ended," McCarthy says. "But he said the familiarity we have with each other and the system was important and he was looking forward to coming back strong.

"When it's a tight game, there's nobody you want more with the ball in his hand than Brett Favre."

Was Bush too pricey?

One analyst's opinion on why the Texans took Mario Williams over Reggie Bush: money.

The former North Carolina State defensive end signed a six-year, $54 million deal, a 9% increase over last season's six-year, $49.5 deal that 49ers quarterback Alex Smith signed.

"This deal doesn't explode the rookie deals in line with the growth of the salary cap," Sirius Radio analyst Pat Kirwan says. "I would think Reggie's deal was going to be richer than that. Let's say Reggie's deal that he wanted was 12-13% over last year's deal. Basically, 5% more than Mario's. If you run that 5% growth for every rookie contract this year, you're talking about an NFL expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars.

"You have 31 other owners looking at the first deal. Can they influence (Texans owner) Bob McNair? No. But I think they're happy as can be it came in like that."

Quick slants

Years from now, the winner of the great debate of the 2006 draft —Reggie Bush or Mario Williams — might be clear to see.

For now, here are a couple of prominent NFL Bush supporters:

"Breathtaking, that's the word," says 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, Bush's former high school teammate. "He sees things on the field, and he ends up doing things only he can see. No one else has that imagination he has."

Says Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers: "He's one of a kind, the fastest guy I've ever seen on a football field. He's a guy I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in this league, and I'm looking forward to playing against him."

•Vince Young had his mom, Felicia, accompany him to the podium when he addressed the media on draft day.

"We're very close," Young says of his mom. "We've been through a whole lot. I feel like the world should see where I come from and that's why I brought her up here."

Asked how he would spend his first NFL paycheck, Young smiled.

"Mommy, what you want? You've got to ask her. Whatever she wants."