If he won't play, VY ready to go elsewhere

The best next step for Titans' Young

<em>Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky</em> <p>I understand why, coming out of Texas, <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=9589" target="_new">Vince Young</a> was compelled to hire an inexperienced agent. Major&nbsp;Adams was a family friend, and it's hard to sort through outsiders and find someone you can trust at the most important time in your life.</p> <table border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" align="right"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="100%"> <tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"><img src="http://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/nfl/players/65/9589.jpg" alt="" hspace="1" vspace="1" width="65" height="90" align="left" /></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> <font face="Verdana" size="1" style="line-height: 1.5em"><font color="#808080">&nbsp;Young</font> </font></td> </tr> </table> <p>But the time has come for Young to make the sort of in-career adjustment he's not been able to make in-game. Adams did well getting Young a great rookie contract, but is largely inexperienced in the ways of the NFL. The current list on the NFL Players Association's Web site indicates Young is his lone current NFL client.</p> <p>My sense has long been that the Titans' No. 2 quarterback is surrounded by too many people who tell him what he wants to hear, who don't want to ruffle his feathers or who add fuel to the idea he may have that the team/the public/the media is against him, and that's the source of his problems.</p> <p><a href="http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090420/SPORTS01/90419018" target="_blank">On April 20</a>, Young told Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean:</p> <blockquote> <p>"I am just going to keep my mouth closed, man. All I am doing this year is shutting up, just shutting up and working. I am going to smile and shut up and continue being Vince Young, a happy smiling guy. I am not going to get into the hoopla anymore because of the fact I can't win any more, I see.</p> <p>"I am just going to shut my mouth and play my role and if they need me then I will be available as a weapon."</p> </blockquote> <p>In the past couple of days, less than two months since he pledged to "smile and shut up," he <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4223108" target="_blank">told Baltimore's WMAR-TV</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>"I definitely want to get back out there playing ball and picking up where I left off, winning games and having a good time with my teammates and with the fans. At the same time, if them guys don't want me to be in there, it's time for me to make a career change for myself. Because the fact is I'm ready to play ball. If they're not ready for me to play ball, then somebody is."</p> </blockquote> <p>He's confused, don't you think?</p> <p>Young needs someone to aggressively tell him the truth, spell things out and offer wise, but firm, council.</p> <p>I'm not part of the inner circle and I don't talk to anyone who is. Maybe someone in there is trying to get through to him and can't do it.</p> <p>I would bet Tom Condon -- who represents <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=1428" target="_new">Peyton Manning</a>, <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=2580" target="_new">Drew Brees</a>, <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=5526" target="_new">Eli Manning</a> and <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=12483" target="_new">Matthew Stafford</a>, among others -- has a better chance. Or David Dunn, who's got <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=4459" target="_new">Carson Palmer</a>, <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=8439" target="_new">Aaron Rodgers</a>, <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=1575" target="_new">Matt Hasselbeck</a> and <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=8644" target="_new">Matt Cassel</a>.</p> <p>It doesn't have to be a big quarterback agent, just an agent who's represented a big quarterback before. Other candidates: Mark Bartlestein (<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=1682" target="_new">Kurt Warner</a>), Don Yee (<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=2330" target="_new">Tom Brady</a>), Jimmy Sexton (<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=5529" target="_new">Philip Rivers</a>) and Bruce Tollner (<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=5536" target="_new">Ben Roethlisberger</a>). We'll resist Bus Cook, who's stirred things up too much for <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=112" target="_new">Brett Favre</a> and <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=9597" target="_new">Jay Cutler</a> recently.</p> <p>Young said if the Titans aren't ready to play him it's time for a career change.</p> <p>I believe he meant he needs to move on to another team, not to another walk of life.</p> <p>If he truly wants to position himself for geographic locker room and practice field change, not a true career change, the best thing he can do might be to give serious consideration to enlisting a new agent.</p>

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