40 Acres Sports

Not exactly breaking news, but ESPN sucks. This is their front page story on Vince’s workout today…

Quarterback Vince Young was timed in 4.58 seconds in the 40-yard dash Wednesday on what is considered a fast track at the University of Texas in Austin, one NFL scout told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen. The scout said Young’s time was slower than anticipated. According to the same scout, Young’s overall workout was “fairly impressive,” but the scout believed that Young was not asked to make certain drops and throws that he would have to perform in a private team workout. Young’s pro workout Wednesday, which was open to all NFL teams, was run by Jerry Rhome, a former NFL quarterback and assistant coach.

First off, pretty much every person I’ve heard quoted that was actually there called it a great performance and Sean Salisbury said he and all the scouts were “blown away.” Salisbury, a USC homer, even said he’d think about taking VY over USC QB Matt Leinart. Former Cowboys’ scout Gil Brandt said, “He impressed everyone with his arm strength, quick delivery and accuracy.”

Second, the 40-yard dash times ranged anywhere from 4.49 to 4.57 depending on whose stop watch you were looking at. Of course ESPN quoted a time above all of those.

Next, I’ve heard several times over the last couple of years that the track they run on is a slow one. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I’ve certainly never seen it called a “fast track.”

Finally, Chris Mortensen is a jackass. He’s been trying to claim for years that former Arkansas QB and current Jaguars receiver Matt Jones was a better quarterback than Vince. Despite the evidence from this past season and inspite of all logic, he restated the ridiculous claim again today.

Unbelievable.

Update

ESPN has updated their story to include a few quotes from people who were actually there. For the first couple of hours the quote above was the entire story. I find it interesting that they can only find unnamed sources that’ll give negative quotes. Hmm… (6:50 p.m.)

Update

They’ve added some good video of the workout to the story. Ed Werder does actual reporting from Austin and talks to actual coaches and scouts instead of quoting a single unnamed scout to say negative things like Mortensen did. It’s amazing that ESPN ran with the one negative report they could find based on second-hand reports from a guy I don’t believe was even there, despite the gushing reviews from their own guys like Salisbury. (03/23/2006)

Starts off 7 of 7. We’ll have more tonight on his performance. Update: Vince kicked ass.

VY ahead of Leinart? I don’t think anyone has a clue what’s going to go down in April.

With this and Culpepper and Brees on the move, Vince falling Arizona doesn’t sound too bad.

A sportswriter who has actually spoken with Vince thinks he’s mature and ready for the NFL.

Positive about Vince’s future, but still doesn’t get that it’s 50 questions in 12 minutes.

“Jay Cutler will be the Sam Bowie to Vince Young’s Michael Jordan.”

SI’s Stewart Mandel is one of the few national media members who doesn’t at least occasionally write or say something that makes me want to hunt him down and punch him in the face. I often think he’s completely wrong, but he manages to avoid saying completely incompetent things on a regular basis. His latest article on Vince Young’s Wonderlic test and subsequent uproar is right on the money…

You’ll have to pardon my confusion. It’s just that I recently emerged from a seven-week hibernation that began the day after the Rose Bowl, and I can’t figure out how, in that time, Vince Young went from being the nation’s reigning football hero to a plummeting draft prospect who supposedly can’t run, can’t throw, can’t catch, can’t dress himself, can’t sing, doesn’t know the Dewey decimal system and, based on last weekend’s combine Wonderlic bombshell, can’t read or write, either.

Our society in general has an obsession with tearing down those at the top, but the great Vince Young dismantling of 2006 is on its way to setting a new land-speed record. They’d barely had time to clean up the confetti in Pasadena before the first whispers began — about his unconventional throwing motion (with which he must have accidentally completed 65 percent of his passes last season), about his inability to throw the deep ball (I must have imagined that 75-yard touchdown I saw him throw at last year’s Texas Tech game), how he’ll be lost when he doesn’t get to line up in the shotgun every snap like he did in college (Drew Brees must not be having the same problem). By the time word spread of his so-so showing at a college all-star skills competition in late January, the pundits had officially ruled out any chance of the Texans taking him No. 1. By the time Young, who went 30-2 as a starter at Texas, showed up at the White House without a suit two weeks ago, he’d been passed up in most mock drafts by Vanderbilt’s Jay Cutler — a guy who went 11-34.

…

To the scouting departments of the Texans and Titans, however, I’d recommend using any or all of these three alternative measuring tools before making up your mind:

1) Talk to him

2) Talk to some of the USC (or Oklahoma, or Ohio State) defenders in the draft who played against him, and ask whether they think he gets easily confused.

Or …

3) Watch some tape.

You mean what you did on the field and ability to play football actually matters? I could have sworn onfield performance wasn’t important.

The people bashing Vince now are the same ones who were bashing him for other stuff before this weekend. I actually heard one ESPN “expert” claim NFL GM’s were scared off by the fact Young “never took more than 6 snaps from under center in any season.” Not in a game. Total. In a season. Wow. The amount of misinformation and flat out lies floating around about Vince right now is ridiculous.

Wonderlic score is going to mean added pressure when he throws for scouts at Texas’ Pro Day.

It is amazing to me how fast rumors spread and how so many versions of a story can come across in the meda. Did [tag]Vince Young[/tag] really get a 6 on the Wonderlic Test. Did he re-take the test and then score a 16? Did the grader of test actually make a mistake in scoring, proving that he would probably score a 1 on the test? All of these questions are up in the are at this moment, and I think the NFL really needs to come out and clarify the situation.

It seems to me that the consensus of stories that I am hearing is that Vince Young did in fact get quite a low score on his first test on Saturday, and then on Sunday was allowed to retake the test and then scored a 16. Now I will admit that a 16 is not great, but to me football IQ is much different than book IQ. And I think I read somewhere that Dan Marino scored a 14, and his career turned out to be just a little bit ok.

So I think we should all just wait until the truth really comes out and hold our opinions until then.

Latest Updates:

• False score gives Young wrong kind of buzz
• Only a 6? No, Young did better on Wonderlic
• GM refutes reports Young scored poorly