There are opinions abound about the Buffalo Bills signing Vince Young for their backup quarterback role. Here’s a quick summary of key pundits dishing on VY.
Jerry Sullivan of The Buffalo News thinks the signing turns up the heat on Fitz.
The pressure is on everyone to start measuring up, and it begins with the starting quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Young was brought here as a security blanket, not a savior.
So if there’s a quarterback controversy, it will be a bad thing for the Bills. It will mean that Fitzpatrick has failed to keep up with heightened expectations. It will mean he’s holding back a team that is upgrading at other positions and venturing into new competitive territory.
Sal Maiorana from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle is confident that Young will prove to be a significant distraction to the Bills.
Buddy Nix said Friday after he signed quarterback Vince Young to a one-year contract worth a reported $2 million, that the talented but sometimes turbulent Young, “won’t be a distraction here.”
Too late. He already is, and he hasn’t even donned a Bills practice jersey yet.
Perhaps that’s all Young can be at this stage of his career is a backup. But what if Young has a great training camp? What if Fitz (17-31-1 as an NFL starter) gets off to a bad start in the regular season? What if Young ends up being the best quarterback on the team? What do the Bills do then?
Jason M. Davis from The Bleacher Report thinks the Bills offense could finally be the perfect match for Young’s talents.
Another reason Young is a great option at backup is because of his mobility and use of the spread offense. In Texas, Young mainly operated out of the shotgun with a spread offense.
The Bills operated mainly out of the spread option last year because it was a strength of Gailey’s and Fitzpatrick’s. While Young would have to adjust to the playbook, the playing style itself should remind him of his days at Texas.
(Take this with a grain of salt, but) Skip Bayless from ESPN’s First Take believes that Young will eventually be the Bills starting quarterback.
“He should be [the starter]. I think eventually he will be,” Bayless said of Young, who’s 31-19 as an NFL starting quarterback. “He wins games. It’s Tebow-esque. He can win games in this league. We saw it again last year, when, at the New York Football Giants, what happened in the fourth quarter? He goes 91 yards in 18 plays, Vince Young did, and had a 3rd-and-8 and threw a touchdown to, of all people, Riley Cooper, to win the game, 17-10. I saw it again. All he does is win games in the NFL.
Mike Freeman, the National NFL Insider from CBSsports.com believes signing Young is a smart move.
Young can still play and he provides solid depth for a team that needs it all across the board including the quarterback position. There’s also no risk to this signing. It’s a one-year deal for minimal money — one person familiar with the contract said it was for $2.1 million. If it doesn’t work, he’s gone, and the Bills paid nothing. If it does, they got a steal.
Jason Lisk from The Big Lead thinks Young is a smart signing and talks how history is littered with quarterbacks who rebounded after being unwanted.
In an age where teams are willing to take chances on unproven players in the draft, Vince Young seems like a reasonable and relatively low risk alternative as he is about to turn age 29.
Mike Schopp from WGR Sportsradio 550 seemed to be completely enamored with the prospects of a QB controversy that could yield “talkradio gold” for his show. (Thanks for the insight, Mike!)
Vince Young? Some controversy for the off-season? I might have to name my next child Buffalo Bills Schopp.
— Mike Schopp (@Schopptalk) May 11, 2012
The Bills just hired a 6-5 national champion QB with a .620 winning pct. and brown skin to back up a .357 Harvard man. Is this heaven? #WGR
— Mike Schopp (@Schopptalk) May 11, 2012
