NFL Update: Tennessee Titans hunting for a new quarterback
Now that Titans' head coach Jeff Fisher is staying with the franchise and their starting quarterback Vince Young is being let go, Tennessee is short of a quarterback. Yesterday, it was officially announced that Young would not be on Titans' roster next season.
On Wednesday, Titans' owner Bud Adams had directed the team's general manager to start looking for their next quarterback.
“We will explore all of the options that are available to us to solidify the quarterback position for the upcoming season,” general manager Mike Reinfeldt said. The problem is that there aren’t that many options available at the moment.
At present, the best chance for Titans to get their hands on a quarterback is through the draft. They can’t make a trade with another club until the new football year begins and that won’t happen until the NFL and NFLPA have a new Collective Bargaining Agreement
in place. Titans can still find a quarterback this April if they trade draft picks with another team.
Available in this April’s draft would be University of Missouri’s quarterback Blaine Gabber, University of Washington’s Jake Locker and Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett among others. There have been many quarterbacks who led their team to success in the NFL after
turning pro. In his first year as starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Josh Freeman led Bucs to a 10-6 season, a far cry from the 3-13 disaster of 2009. In a different division, Bucs could have made the playoffs this year.
Another success story is that of quarterback Joe Flacco. The Ravens' quarterback led the team to the playoffs in his rookie year and has been matching that success every year. Atlanta Falcons were taken to the playoffs in 2008 by rookie quarterback Matt
Ryan. Since then, he has won Falcons 31 games and led them to the NFC South title this year with a stunning 13-3 record. Sam Bradford might not be the next Joe Flacco but he was certainly impressive in his rookie year. The 6’4” quarterback out of Oklahoma
led the Saint Luis Rams to tie 2nd place in the NFC West. Their winning record was tied with the division leader.
The NFL is a step up from college football but the level of professionalism even in college is exceptional. More and more quarterbacks are entering the NFL ready for the challenge of professional football. If Titans play their cards right, they can find
the answer to their quarterback conundrum in this April’s draft.
Meanwhile, the options within the league are limited. Denver Broncos' Kyle Orton could be traded after Broncos president made it clear that they want to move forward their Tim Tebow. Kevin Kolb out of Philadelphia could also be available for a trade.
Titans have faced Kolb earlier this season and were able to beat him with back up Kerry Collins. Coach Fisher said that Collins could very well stay with the Titans even if not as the starting quarterback. In this season’s last game against the Indianapolis
Colts, Collins threw 300 yards and two touchdown passes even though in the end, Titans lost the game.
Without a new labour agreement, Titans would have a tough time getting their new quarterback ready for the NFL. Any quarterback that comes to Tennessee would have to fill some very large shoes left behind by Vince Young. Since 2006, Young has 54 games for
the Titans and scored 42 touchdowns.
When he joined the franchise, his passer ratings were in the 60s. This season, he raised that number to 98.6. He threw 10 touchdowns for 3 interceptions in the games he played this season before a thumb injury ended his season early.
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