Vince Young: Great college QB, lousy pro prospect

Vince Young won't make it as an NFL quarterback -- at least, not as a star NFL quarterback. And in time that is how he will be judged.

Was Young worth the No. 3 overall pick of the 2006 draft? Was he a star quarterback?

Vince Young isn't the athlete in the pros that he was in college. (AP)

And the answer will be: of course not.

Unless it's a weak year for prospects, the No. 3 overall pick in any NFL Draft should end up somewhere between the Pro Bowl and the Hall of Fame. If this was a weak year, so be it. Time will tell on the 2006 draft class, just as it will tell on Vince Young. And what it tells on Young, and on the team that picked him, won't be nice.

The Titans got suckered. Suckered by Young's incredible body and athletic ability and highlight reel at Texas. They got suckered so badly, they looked past Young's painfully obvious deficiency: He can't throw the ball downfield.

This being the Titans, you can't be surprised. This is the same team that got suckered by the body, athletic ability and highlight reel of West Virginia cornerback "Pacman" Jones. Despite his obvious character issues, the Titans took Jones with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2005 draft. Jones has been a good player, but he's not going to last in the NFL. A bad character is a bad character, as Jones has consistently shown after 15 months with the Titans.

Hey, it's not Jones' fault. He is what he is. You don't blame the horse for pooping in the kitchen. You blame the idiot who took the horse inside the house.

So it is with Vince Young. It's not his fault he went No. 3 overall in the 2006 draft. Blame the Titans, but don't blame Young when his career falls far short of his draft placement. Young has worked hard and stayed out of trouble, and will continue to do so. He's a high-character leader but not, sad to say, a high-caliber NFL quarterback.

Don't tell me about the 2006 Rose Bowl. Don't tell me what Young did to Southern California. I watched him roll up 467 yards of offense against the Trojans, but what does that have to do with the NFL? If college football had anything to do with the NFL, 1996 Heisman winner and national champion Danny Wuerffel of Florida would be 30,000 yards into his Hall of Fame career instead of doing ... whatever it is he's doing.

Young did to Southern Cal what he did to everyone in college. He ran past slower defenders, ran over smaller defenders and, when he had to, he threw the ball. But he didn't throw the ball like an NFL quarterback. He threw the ball short -- here or there.

Benefited by his supernatural running ability, Young had an open field and gifted receivers working one-on-one against a defense that couldn't afford to give Young's arm as much attention as it gave his legs. Sometimes his receivers took those short passes and turned them into big gains. That's how he threw for 267 yards while running for 200.

What's strange, and what gives me pause, is that the Titans have one of the best offensive minds in football in coordinator Norm Chow. He's the reason BYU was the most explosive team in college football for years. He's the reason North Carolina State was once so promising. He's not the reason USC became the new Miami, but he's on the short list. Chow is for real. He knows offense like "Pacman" Jones knows trouble.

And Chow helped draft Young? That troubles me. Then again ...