Phil Savage, the excellent GM of the Cleveland Browns, can speak candidly about Vince Young since the Browns are not in the market for a quarterback in the first round. Savage sums up nicely the concerns about Young’s ability to transition from the college game to the NFL game:
Savage raised some serious questions about Young’s ability to transfer his running and throwing ability to the NFL.
“I think the question on him, at least in my mind, is the fact he has operated in a shotgun offense with pretty vanilla reads, and if those reads weren’t there, he could take off and run with it,'’ he said. “You could do that in the NFL to a degree, but there does seem to be a little bit more structure in the league than in the college game.
“I think you would have to adjust your system, and if he came on your team you’d have to have two different offenses in a way, and I’m not sure you have time to prepare all of that. You have to be really convinced that’s what you want to do.'’
“I think the question on him, at least in my mind, is the fact he has operated in a shotgun offense with pretty vanilla reads, and if those reads weren’t there, he could take off and run with it,'’ he said. “You could do that in the NFL to a degree, but there does seem to be a little bit more structure in the league than in the college game.
“I think you would have to adjust your system, and if he came on your team you’d have to have two different offenses in a way, and I’m not sure you have time to prepare all of that. You have to be really convinced that’s what you want to do.'’