Young faces uphill battle in Regina
Years removed from his glory days in the NCAA and NFL, Vince Young faces an uphill battle trying to resurrect his pro football career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The CFL club took a flyer on Young on Thursday, signing the former Texas Longhorns star to a two-year deal (one year plus an option). The 33year-old spent eight years in the NFL but last played in a regular-season game in 2011 with the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I wouldn’t say (this is) a comeback, I’d just say an opportunity,” Young said at a news conference in Regina. “I always wanted to play football again but didn’t know how it was going to happen.
“God always works in mysterious ways.”
The six-foot-five, 232-pound Young was 30-2 at Texas and in 2005 led the school to an NCAA title. He went in the first round, third overall, of the 2006 NFL draft to the Tennessee Titans and was the league’s top rookie and a Pro Bowl selection that season.
Young, a 2005 Heisman Trophy finalist, started 50-of-60 career NFL games and in ‘09 was its comeback player and earned his second Pro Bowl nomination. But the Houston native has been out of football since 2014 when he retired after being released by the Cleveland Browns.
Young said he’s remained active in retirement, playing flag football, breaking down game film with Longhorns quarterbacks and coaching his son’s youth squad. Young added he started his offseason conditioning program last month.
However, his biggest challenge isn’t simply chipping away the rust. It’s trying to do so while venturing into a completely different game.
Canadian football is not only played on a longer, wider field but also features one less down and one more player on the field. And while in the NFL only one offensive player can be moving when the ball is snapped, unlimited motion is allowed in the CFL, sometimes creating organized chaos.
Canadian football is predominately an aerial game requiring pinpoint accuracy from the quarterback. Every CFL starter last year completed at least 65 per cent of his passes and overall league quarterbacks completed 68.3 per cent of the roughly 5,900 passes thrown.
“It’s certainly a different game,” said Chris Jones, Saskatchewan’s head coach/GM. “It’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment but again we’ve got mini-camp and (training) camp and I’m fully confident that he can make that adjustment.”
Young was a mobile quarterback in the NFL, rushing for 1,459 yards (5.2yard average) although he lost 12 of 40 fumbles. And while Edmonton’s Mike Reilly was the CFL’s top-rushing quarterback last year with 406 yards (four-yard average), he also led the league in passing (5,554 yards) and owned a gaudy 70.8 per cent completion average.
Few quarterbacks have succeeded coming to Canada after starting their pro career in the NFL. Doug Flutie was the exception.
Young, for one, isn’t the least bit daunted by the task before him.
“I’ve got to put in the work and get in the film room and transfer the film work and mental stuff to the football field,” he said. “It’s not my first rodeo . . . I’ve played this game, I know football.
“It takes some time but at the same time I love to learn from my mistakes. I’m here to compete.”