Vince Young Has Advice For Marcus Mariota

Young lost the starting job multiple times during his five seasons with Tennessee

Vince Young knows what Marcus Mariota is going through. In fact, he went through worse.

During his time with the Tennessee Titans, Young was sent to the bench on multiple occasions. Once, he even was shown the door.

So the third overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft offered some unsolicited advice Wednesday via Twitter to the second overall choice in 2015. Young encouraged Mariota to “take a deep breath” and “don’t get down on yourself” shortly after Titans coach Mike Vrabel confirmed that Ryan Tannehill would replace Mariota as the team’s starting quarterback beginning with Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Nissan Stadium. In a follow-up tweet Young challenged Mariota: “… when you get the starting position back don't give it back!!”

Young spent five seasons with Tennessee during which time he started as many as 15 games in a season (2007) and as few as one (2008). He became a starter for the first time in the fourth game of his rookie season and led the Titans to eight wins, including six in a row at one point.

He held the job until Week 2 of his third year (2009). Then the evening after a season-opening loss to Jacksonville he went missing, which prompted team officials to notify law enforcement and express concern over the player’s mental state. It turned out he was with a friend watching football on TV. He spent the rest of that season and the first six games of the next as a backup before he got his next opportunity. With him at quarterback, Tennessee went 8-2 over the final 10 games of 2009.

Young’s time with the Titans effectively ended after Week 11 of the 2010 season when he stormed out of the locker room following a postgame confrontation with then-coach Jeff Fisher. Days later he was placed on injured reserve with a thumb injury and the team released him the following June.

In 48 career starts for Tennessee, Young was 30-18 with one playoff appearance (a loss in 2007). Mariota is 29-31 in 60 career starts and has appeared in two postseason contests (1-1).