Titus Young Twitter rant against Detroit Lions angers head coach Jim Schwartz. Is wide receiver's future in the NFL over?
When the Detroit Lions drafted wide receiver Titus Young out of Boise State, the team was expecting to get a speedy offensive threat with big play ability. Instead, all the team has received is a headache.
Young has been trying his best to get released from the team after getting in a dispute earlier in the season, taking to Twitter on to get his opinions out to the public. Earlier in the week he voiced his displeasure with the organization and threatened that he might never play football again.
Young continued his raging on Friday, saying he was unhappy with the team and that he would like to be released.
"Oh I'm not done, if y'all going to cut me let me go. I'm tired of the threats," Young tweeted. He shortly followed with a another tweet that stated: "Never needed the money Give me a dollar and a ball bet I come back #HallofFame"
Young has been with the team for two-seasons, but he has not been able to consistently perform and has proven to be immature. The Lions sent the wideout home three different times, including once for punching teammate Louis Delmas during an offseason workout program, then twice for repeated insubordinate behavior.
In November, Young continued his bad behavior when he allegedly lined up in the wrong position on purpose in a game against Green Bay, something he later denied. Coach Jim Schwartz deemed Young's behavior "unacceptable."
Young tweeted earlier this week (since deleted) that he would retire if he didn't get more attention in the passing game. In his first season in the NFL, Young had 33 catches and for his career he has grabbed 81 in 26 games.
"Like I said I never been selfish but if I'm not going to get the football i don't want to play anymore," Young wrote.
Lions head coach Jim Schwartz butted heads with Young during the season a number of times and has tried repeatedly to get him to act more maturely. Young was suspended from the team for the final six games of the season after the Week 11 incident against Green Bay.
"Guys are responsible for what they post, what they say," Schwartz said Wednesday. "You wear your uniform 24 hours a day now, everybody's aware of that. We obviously still got some ground to cover there."
Schwartz addressed Young's tweets earlier this week at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
"Every offensive player wants the football, and there are good ways to go about getting that and not so good ways about trying to get that done. This is a pretty good example of a not-so-good way," Schwartz told the team's website.
Some of Young's other Tweets included:
-"One of the great things about bad times is that good times follow."
-"Got To hear from Bill Ford Jr. What a privilege, and Most importantly Motivation for the TEAM!!!!!"
In another post, written from California, he seemed to tease Detroit residents about the cold: "Good afternoon Detroit how is the weather out there today?"
The idea that the Lions are an undisciplined team has been mentioned by many writers in the NFL, especially after defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was seen stomping on an opposing player last Thanksgiving. On top of that, the Lions had five players arrested (seven different times) during 2012 and had other players get into altercations on the field, including Suh, who may or may not have kicked Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub in the groin on Thanksgiving in 2012.
Young likely won't be returning to the team next season, but he would be wise to be quite and fall in line. The Lions do not have a clear-cut wide receiver behind Calvin Johnson and if Young got his act together, he has the skill set to be a solid professional in the NFL. Rookie Ryan Broyles tore his right ACL in Week 13, which means he likely would be able to get ahead of him on the depth chart as well.
Young signed a four-year, $4.6 million contract coming out of college that included $1.8 million guaranteed and will be owed under $800,000 in 2013 if the Lions keep him. Young has 81 receptions for 990 yards and 10 touchdowns during his short career.
While playing at Boise State, Young was excellent on the field, but he also had issues off of it that were some foreshadowing of his professional career. He was suspended during his sophomore season after fighting with a teammate and was thought of by many NFL teams as a character risk, which is one reason why he was drafted at pick 16.
Young had 204 receptions for 3,063 yards and 25 touchdowns in his Boise State career, including and had his best season in 2010 when he made 71 receptions for 1,215 yards and 9 touchdowns while playing with Kellen Moore.
