Larry Brown Sports

Vince Young is attempting an NFL comeback, and the former NFL Rookie of the Year is hoping to repair his image and name in the process.

Young, who was released by the Buffalo Bills last August, is planning to work out for scouts at the University of Texas on March 26. He is confident he can be an asset for a club, and he is hoping and praying that a team gives him another chance.

During an interview with NFL Network’s “NFL AM” Wednesday, Young talked about his desire to improve his legacy. Now 29 and married with children, Young says he has grown and matured. He even says he sent a letter of apology to his former coach with the Tennessee Titans, Jeff Fisher, who is now with the St. Louis Rams.

“I definitely wanted to apologize for the things that I did, letting him know about the frustration, a lot of different things that was going on in my life at the time,” Young said of his letter to Fisher. “And I wanted him to know that I really did appreciate him trying to make me become one of those type of leaders on the team, a successful quarterback.

“At the time, being immature and not paying attention and not listening and taking my frustrations out on a lot of people wasn’t the right thing to do. Just knowing that, hopefully he can read my letter and forgive me for that.”

Young is hoping that Fisher will be able to put in a good word for him with teams around the league. He says he would be willing to take a backup job and that he believes he would be a good leader and mentor for younger players.

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Vince Young is in poor financial shape. That much we know. The former Tennessee Titans quarterback blew around $60 million in career earnings and is now in a dispute with his former financial adviser. The adviser claims Young took out an extremely high-interest loan during the NFL Lockout because he needed finances. Young claims he didn’t really know what he was signing — that he was misled — and that his former advisers misappropriated around $5.5 million of his funds. It’s up to you to decide whom to believe in the the situation, but there is one part of the story that must be shared.

Young’s former financial adviser, Ronnie Peoples, says he arranged for Young to have a seven-figure loan taken out during the lockout because the quarterback had committed around $300,000 to spend on his birthday party and needed the money to cover the expenses, The Associated Press reports. Young’s birthday is May 18, 1983, so he would have been turning 28 at the time and probably had gone months without getting a paycheck since the NFL was in the offseason. $1.9 million was borrowed from Pro Player Funding, L.L.C., at 20 percent interest. Pro Player Funding is seeking reimbursement for the loan.

I don’t doubt that Young signed stuff he had no understanding of, but that’s probably because he thought he had limitless funds and didn’t care enough to pay close attention. He’s probably only claiming now he was misled because he’s lost it all and he never thought that would happen. Just look at his alleged spending habits around the Nashville area to understand what kind of spender he was.

The Arizona Cardinals lost to the Seattle Seahawks so badly on Sunday that even Vince Young thinks he could help the team.

The unemployed former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year tweeted at Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald toward the end of Arizona’s Week 14 58-0 blowout loss to ask him to put in the good word with his coaches.

@larryfitzgerald you know I can help tell coach.

— Vince Young (@VinceYoung) December 9, 2012

There are multiple aspects of this tweet that are just plain sad. First, it wasn’t that long ago when Young was helping the Tennessee Titans win games as a starting quarterback, so it’s still hard to believe that the former Texas legend is unemployed while guys like John Skelton and Ryan Lindley are. Second, does it get much lower than a once-great athlete begging for a job over Twitter? Third, the Cardinals are so pathetic right now — they turned the ball over eight times in the 58-0 loss and have lost nine in a row — that Young probably would be better than what they have.

Shockingly, I actually agree with him.

Fitz also has just six catches for 37 yards in the last four games. He probably would agree with Young too.

Now that Vince Young’s financial struggles have been publicized, the stories about the quarterback’s out-of-control spending are emerging.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Young is suing former business advisers and blaming them for his financial problems. He apparently has very little money left despite earning $26 million guaranteed from his playing career, and reportedly around $30 million in endorsement deals. Even though it looks like Young spent around $60 million, that figure is pre-taxes, so we’re probably looking at an amount of $35 million that he spent — still an absurd figure.

So how did he blow through so much? Some of the following tales should give us a good idea.

Clay Travis’ radio show in Nashville, “Three Hour Lunch,” took calls on Wednesday from people who shared their Vince Young stories. Travis wrote about the stories on his website Outkick the Coverage (you can listen to the stories here).

According to people who served Young and other Titans at restaurants, or interacted with him in other ways, the former Tennessee quarterback would spend thousand of dollars at restaurants like T.G.I. Friday’s or Cheesecake Factory.

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Vince Young is reportedly struggling financially. Since he signed a rookie deal with the Titans out of college in 2006 that contained more than $25 million in guaranteed money, that is hard to believe. Young earned more than $30 million of that contract, and a recent report from the Associated Press reminded us that “60 Minutes” once ran a feature on him back in 2007 during which is was revealed that he had endorsement deals worth roughly $30 million.

Yet, somehow, he’s in big trouble with money. Young recently filed a lawsuit against his former agent, Major Adams, and a North Carolina financial planner named Ronnie Peoples, alleging that they misappropriated $5.5 million of his money in ways that included forging his signature and impersonating him in phone calls and emails.

“They conspired to take Vince’s money,” Young’s attorney Trey Dolezal said. “It’s that simple. He was just very young … and allowing these people to have too much control over his life and his name.”

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Chris Johnson has struggled this season. The man who eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards in 2009 can’t even crack the 45 yards per game mark this year. There are many reasons why he’s struggling this season, though it’s hard to isolate the exact reason he’s had problems. One could be the that offensive line isn’t as good as it was. Another could be Johnson’s less-than-peak physical condition because he held out and missed training camp.

A far less cited reason for Johnson’s struggles is something the statistics support: Chris Johnson is not as good without Vince Young at quarterback. The reason is simple: VY is a running threat. Opposing defenses frequently spy a quarterback like Young, which keeps at least one linebacker busy. Having another person on the field to constantly worry about running the ball takes pressure off the running back.

I actually looked through every carry of Chris Johnson’s career, and the data shows he had by far his greatest success with Vince Young as his quarterback, more moderate success with Kerry Collins, and that he’s been brutal with Matt Hasselbeck at QB.

In 19 games with Vince Young at QB: 398 ATT, 2072 YDS, 18 TDs, 122 YPG, 5.2 YPC
In 25 games with Kerry Collins at QB: 433 ATT, 1930 YDS, 14 TDs, 74 YPG, 4.4 YPC
In 6 games with Matt Hasselbeck at QB: 93 ATT, 268 YDS, 1 TD, 44 YPG, 2.8 YPC

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In most instances, fans who impersonate players are harmless and simply trying to have a little fun.  We have seen several examples over the years of fans who dress up as professional athletes or take advantage of the fact that they look like a certain player.  This guy who impersonated Brett Favre caused quite a stir in Green Bay but was not harming anyone.  While we believe the Pau Gasol impersonator charges way too much, he was not stealing or scamming people.  And then there are people like Lil’ Bautista who are, well, children.

When someone like Stephan Pittman comes along, the joke is over.  On Monday, Vince Young came out and warned people in the Maryland area about a con-man who has been impersonating him in Prince George’s County, Md.

“I heard that he has been been taking money, taking pictures with little kids at hospitals,” Young warned. “It’s been real sick.”

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