Vince Young (10) Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Let’s talk about the Tennessee Titans’ past, present, and future at the quarterback spot. Many fans in the Twittersphere and blogs have voiced their opinion that Vince Young is as good of a quarterback as Jake Locker.
Is he?
Locker has his faults. He’s inconsistent facing pressure. His footwork can get sloppy, causing him to sail passes over receivers or one-hop them into the ground. Although his receivers don’t always help him, Jake also struggles with accuracy at times. That’s a lot of flaws considering that an NFL quarterback needs to be able to face pressure, be consistently accurate, and have great footwork.
But there are two things Jake has that rivals most NFL quarterbacks: a strong work ethic and high emotional IQ.
I would say those are the two most important characteristics a quarterback has to have. It just so happens that those are the two things that Young struggled with the most.
Young threw 30 interceptions in his first two years in the NFL. Say what you want about Locker’s inaccuracy, but I would take 56-percent passing over the interceptions all day and twice on Sundays. Yet, the interceptions aren’t the reason the Titans traded in the old model No. 10 for the shiny, new model. The reason Young isn’t wearing two-toned blue anymore is that he was a complete basket case when he was in Tennessee.
Need I remind you that Vince acted in a way that alarmed his friends and family then went missing for a couple of hours? Need I remind you that this Titans quarterback took his pads off and threw them into the stands in frustration. He then proceeded to have a yelling session with his boss, Jeff Fisher, and storm out of the locker room. Oh yeah, and need I remind you of this picture? That’s just awkward.
Vince’s athletic ability was insanely apparent. He led us to 10-6. He had some great SportsCenter highlights. Vince even made this team nationally relevant which is a very underrated thing to do. However, Locker’s mental stability alone makes him a much better franchise quarterback prospect than VY ever was.