Rumors are swirling around the quarterback position for the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals, and it's not exactly difficult to see why; John Skelton is the current number-one option for the Cardinals, and Charlie Whitehurst still tops the list of Matt Hasselbeck successors for the Seahawks. Kevin Kolb, Wally Pipped by Michael Vick in Philadelphia, remains the top option after the NFL Lockout for most quarterback-needy teams, but another, crazier option lurks in the wings for teams who are short on tradable goods and long on guts—Vince Young, lately of the Tennessee Titans.
As Mike Sando notes, Vince Young is catnip for coaches who think they have a special connection to their players, and the Seahawks or Cardinals would immediately vault to the front of ESPN for a day or two if they actually decided to take a chance on the former superstar-in-waiting. But unless he's brought along slowly his unsteadiness threatens to blow a team's season apart.
Signing Vince Young and succeeding for eight weeks is a little like experimenting with radium—Ken Whisenhunt or Pete Carroll might win a Nobel Prize in the bargain, but there's a non-zero chance the Cardinals or Seahawks end up developing cancer before the year is out. It's difficult to consider the deal, but then not every team can end up winning the Kevin Kolb sweepstakes.