This is the right move. The jury is still out whether Vince Young will be a good NFL quarterback, but he leaves college as one of the best college quarterbacks in history and his draft value will never be higher.
Surprisingly, the Houston Texans have already indicated that they will pass on Young, a Houston native, and take Reggie Bush. I can understand the decision, since they don’t want to gve up on David Carr, but Bush has just as many question marks as Young when one contemplates how they’ll do in the NFL. Mel Kiper and other Bush backers have conceded that Bush is the type of back you can run 12-15 times per game, while getting him more touches in the passing game and in the return game. That makes sense, but it’s hard to justify taking a back with the #1 pick if he can’t be a workhourse back.
With Young, it will be interesting to see if his athletic ability translates to success in the NFL. Like Michael Vick, he’s offers a rare combination of athletic ability that presents huge challenges to defenses, but defenses in the NFL are much faster and they hit a lot harder. Young has a huge upside, but he comes with a ton of risk.
The best pick might be Matt Leinart, who gave up the chance to be the #1 pick last year and now might be headed to the Saints with the #2 pick. Something tells me he’ll regret his decision to stay if he ends up with the Saints.
The Titans would love to have Leinart at #3 (Norm Chow runs their offense), but ESPN is speculating they’ll get Young.
The draft should be fun this year.
