Report: Miami Dolphins would be "appealing" to Vince Young

I the midst of thing prolonged lockout, there's been a recurring theme that most of our discussion has focused on - quarterbacks. So guess what the top story involving the Miami Dolphins is right now to start the week.

Today's quarterback-centric news comes courtesy of a report over the weekend by the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson, who notes that quarterback Vince Young would be interested in coming to Miami if/when the Tennessee Titans release him.

"An associate emphasized how appealing the Dolphins would be to Vince Young if Tennessee cuts him as expected." writes Jackson. "And he’s not out of the question for Miami."

The idea of Young ending up in Miami has been floated out there before, too, dating back to a Sun-Sentinel story in January in which head coach Tony Sparano mentions a study he had his staff put together that reveals a connection between athletic quarterbacks and explosive pass plays. In this study by the team's video director, the two teams that created the most 30+ yard pass plays were the Packers and Eagles - who both happen to have athletic quarterbacks.

When Sparano was asked if the collapsing pockets around Chad Henne last year may have been an issue for Henne, Sparano replied sharply, "There's pocket disruption for a lot of these quarterbacks, and they keep the play alive and make plays and do some of those things."

But this latest report from Jackson regarding any interest the Dolphins might have in Young mentions some of the obvious concerns this organization would have that may prevent the team from making a play for the maligned signal caller.

One official who has spoken with the Dolphins said there’s concern about whether Young would be happy as a backup if Chad Henne beat him out," Jackson writes. "Remember, Young wasn’t happy when he lost his job in Tennessee."

That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Vince Young. Considering the issues he's had in Tennessee, it's hard to see the Dolphins taking a chance on Young - particularly because of how much of a distraction he could be if things don't go well for him here.

Last month, general manager Jeff Ireland was asked about the criteria he uses when searching for a veteran quarterback to bring in as competition for Chad Henne. Ireland's response is quite succinct.

"You have to know exactly what you’re going to get from the person," responded Ireland. "You can’t guess about work ethic. You can’t guess about intangibles, competitiveness, intelligence, accountability, dependability. You can’t question those things at all."

If this comment from Ireland wasn't just another smokescreen, then we can essentially rule out the Dolphins in having any interest in Vince Young - who might just be the antithesis of what Ireland wants in a veteran quarterback.

Some concerns about Young, though, run far deeper than just his intangibles. If you look deeper than Young's 30-17 record as a starting quarterback, you'll see that he really hasn't produced much more than Chad Henne has to date. Young completes under 58% of his passes, has thrown 42 touchdowns and 42 interceptions, and has a nearly identical passer rating to Henne (75.7 to Chad's 75.3). Young and Henne both currently have an interception percentage of 3.5% - which amounts to one interception roughly every 28 pass attempts. And Young acutally has a higher sack rate than Henne (5.9% to 5.6%).

All of this makes me wonder if Young is at all appealing to the Dolphins.

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