Craven: RGIII on the dangerous path to becoming the next Vince Young

[caption id="attachment_18188" align="alignleft" width="300"]Photo by Tim Craig Photo by Tim Craig[/caption] Former Baylor and Copperas Cove quarterback Robert Griffin III is on the fast-track to watching his career go up in smoke. In so many ways his career has paralleled Vince Young’s. It was announced today that Griffin, a Heisman winner at Baylor under Art Briles will not be the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins for the first game of the season. It’s also been widely reported that head coach Jay Gruden wants to part ways with the former No. 2 overall draft pick, but owner Dan Snyder doesn’t want to trade him. If that exact storyline sounds familiar it is because Young went through the same thing in Tennessee. Titans’ owner Bud Adams was the one that pushed for Young to be drafted, which made it difficult for the former Texas Longhorn to succeed under a head coach who didn’t want him to begin with. The two have always been compared. Both are duel-threat quarterbacks who used their athleticism in college to help their programs reach incredible heights. Young led Texas to its first championship in over three decades and Griffin, alongside Briles, helped take Baylor from dumpster fire to respectable program in a few short seasons. Now, the two are very close to being linked again for the wrong reason: NFL busts. Young eventually parted ways with Tennessee and bounced around to a few spots before retiring from the game. All signs point to an eventual divorce between Griffin and the Redskins. We’ve all needed a change of scenery before, but Griffin’s major hurdle, just like Young’s, isn’t as simple as moving to a new team and getting a fresh start. Both grew up in spread offenses. Each brought a specific set of unique skills to the position of quarterback. And after each enjoyed success as a rookie, they weren’t supported by coaches willing to adjust their offensive style to fit what they did best. Griffin and Young deserve some of the blame for both of their downfalls from promising rookies to NFL quarterbacks without a future. Griffin still has time to turn it around, but he’ll need something to happen that never did for Young. He’ll need to find a landing spot willing to tweak an offense around his set of skills instead of Griffin being forced to be a quarterback that he is not. And in the NFL, most coaches aren’t willing to do that.