TheRams claimed wide receiver Titus Young on waivers from the Lions onTuesday. Young, two seasons after the Lions drafted him out ofBoise State, asked for his release, and the Lions granted it. Yes,the sports world has changed; Young made his request via Twitter.Under a lot ofcircumstances, acquiring a young, fast, deep threat who's basically been a two-year starter would be seen asa coup for the Rams’ front office. Young is just 23. The Ramsinherit his contract for this year and next, but as a second-roundpick, he’s not high-cost. He’d be under $1.5 million to keep fortwo years, should the Rams choose to do so. Young probably ranks asthe best scoring threat on the Rams roster right now. He had 10 TDsin 2 years in Detroit; that’s more offensive TDs than either DannyAmendola or Brandon Gibson have for their careers. Physically, Young is certainly a player who can create neededspirited competition in training camp. He’s already an infiniteupgrade over surely-departed 2012 free-agent bust Steve Smith. That’slike going from a tricycle (with a broken wheel) to a Ducatti.
Unfortunately, muchas if yours truly ever actually tried to drive one, this Ducatticould go off the road at any time. Young was a problemchild at Boise. He was suspended for most of the 2008 season there for violating team rules. There were character flags on him for immaturity heading into the 2011 draft. He had a good rookie season at Detroit(48-607, 6 TD), but had already begun to butt heads with head coach Jim Schwartz, and he became a complete head case in 2012. He punched ateammate during voluntary workouts. He poutedabout not getting the ball enough and being only the Lions’ #3 WRbehind Megatron and Nate Burleson. He was sent home three times inseven months. The breaking point came in a November game where hestarted intentionally lining up incorrectly, trying to get the ballthrown to him. He literally drove his position coach into a rage on the sideline. Schwartz made him inactive the next two games forinsubordination, then decided to IR him after that for a nagging kneeinjury, announcing Young would undergo knee surgery, “unless hedoesn’t show up for it”. (There is no report so far that Young has had any knee surgery.) Over the holidays, he claimedto his high school coach that he’s better than Megatron. At leastone Detroit writer thinks Young is delusional to the point he may not be mentally stable. The Lions reportedly tried to send Young to therapists but he refused. Young tweeted January 25th that he wastired of threats to get cut and the Lions should just do it. Whichthey did Monday, which was just as soon as they were allowed to.
It’s fair to askwhat Young even brings to the Rams. He’s 5’11”, 174, and mightbe fast by Rams standards, but he only turned a 4.53 at the 2011Combine, and could be coming off knee surgery. Where does Youngeven fit in? He’s too small to be #1, where I imagine the Rams aregoing to try to convince us and themselves that Brian Quick will bethe major upgrade they need over Brandon Gibson. Chris Givens shouldbe #2; he’s faster and bigger than Young without near asmuch baggage. If Young was upset at being #3 in Detroit, imagine howhe’ll act here!
And Young’s only#3 here if the Rams don’t re-sign Gibson and Amendola. By claimingYoung, the Rams seem to be trying to double down on the negativeenergy failing to re-sign Amendola would generate. Danny could be theteam’s most popular player, as well as being the receiver Bradfordleans on most. Yeah, let’s stunt Bradford and the passing gameagain AND replace a fan favorite with a whiny, brooding, divaheadcase. (As far as negotiations with Amendola are going, his agentsays things are proceeding positively, and he doesn’t considerYoung even remotely close to Amendola as a receiver, going so far asto mock Young in the press earlier this week).
Well, a lot of teamswould have jumped at the chance to get such a talented player asYoung, right? WRONG. NO OTHER TEAM in the NFL wants anything to dowith him. Even Marvin Lewis and Cincinnati! The Rams were the onlyteam to file a waiver claim on him. Jeff Fisher, who’s gone thisroute many times with varying success (Pac-Man, Albert Haynesworth,Kenny Britt, Randy Moss, Janoris Jenkins), has officially turned St.Louis from the city of Four Pillars into the halfway house for NFLknuckleheads. Every time an NFL player gets cut for doing somethingstupid, we can expect the Rams to be the first team John Clayton,Chris Mortenson and Adam Schefter will speculate to pick that playerup. (Look out Sam Bradford if Jamarcus Russell loses a few pounds!) Ilike winning football games. I’m not thrilled with the Knuckleheadof the Week plan the Rams appear to have embraced, adopted and swornto live by.
Jeff Fisher can probably start by banning Young from using Twitter. Getting in cyberspats with fans who claim they could cover you probably isn't the wisest thing. Neither is saying you don't want to play anymore if you're not going to get the ball more. (That tweet appears to have been deleted.) But getting Titus Young to seek therapy is a whole other critter than trying to make Janoris Jenkins hire your financial adviser, I'd wager.
This offseason, RamsGM Les Snead has mentioned the need to add explosiveness to the Ramoffense. If Titus Young does provide explosion atRams Park, somehow I don’t think it’s going to be the kind Sneadwas looking for.
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