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News broke on Sunday night that the Green Bay Packers have reached out to free agent quarterback Vince Young, and will be holding a personal work out with the 30-year-old on Monday.
Vince Young to work out for Packers http://t.co/qdhiObv6Pn
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 5, 2013
This is an interesting development, and one that is equally intriguing and concerning. It is interesting because Young is a talented quarterback who has shown flashes of brilliance in his career (two Pro-Bowl appearances), but he also has well documented off-the-field issues. His clash with former head coach Jeff Fisher while in Tennessee was troubling to watch, and Young has since bounced around the league with the Eagles and Bills in recent years.
The move is concerning because it shows the coaching staff does not have faith in Graham Harrell and B.J. Coleman's progression. Coleman's two interceptions in the Family Night scrimmage may have played an important part in this move. By all accounts, the Packers have given Coleman every opportunity to take the No. 2 spot on the depth chart, but Coleman has yet to fully take advantage. When it comes to earning a spot as the back-up quarterback on an NFL team, the opportunities are limited, and sometimes teams have to expand their potential options if things don't go according to plan.
It could just be a motivational move by the organization to prove to the two young players that they are indeed replaceable, or it could just be Ted Thompson kicking the tires on a potential free agent pick-up. This is about the time of the off-season that Thompson likes to find a free agent below market value to add to the roster.
The other possibility that seems reasonable is that Young will be brought into camp to run some read-option plays and simulate young running quarterbacks like Colin Kaepernick or Robert Griffin III in an effort to prepare the Packers' defense for games against those two players in the first two weeks of the season.
If anything, Young would be another arm in camp that could push Harrell and Coleman. We will see how things shake out over the next couple of days, but bringing in a hungry competitor is never a bad thing.