Orchard Park, NY (WGR 550) -- From favorite to win the backup job to out of work in just two days, that's how Vince Young's time as a member of the Buffalo Bills will be remembered.
The Bills announced Monday afternoon that they have released Young, the former third overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft.
Young came to Buffalo to be in a competition with fellow quarterback Tyler Thigpen throughout off-season workouts and training camp. After the Bills' second preseason game in Minnesota, Young took the lead with a solid four-play drive that got the team in to the end zone.
That led Chan Gailey to declare just one week ago that Young would receive all the second-team reps and took the lead in that very backup competition.
Fast forward to Saturday, where Young's abysmal performance against Pittsburgh was eye-opening enough to make the Bills re-think things in a very real way. Young completed 12-of-26 passes for 103 yards and also threw two very bad interceptions to the young Steelers secondary. The former Titans and Eagles passer also had a quarterback rating of only 25.0 in that contest.
Not even 24 hours later, the Bills made a move to acquire Seattle quarterback Tarvaris Jackson in a trade early Sunday evening. The team made the official announcement of the deal on Monday afternoon.
Both NFL.com and the Associated Press have reported that Jackson and the Bills have agreed on a restructured contract to complete the trade.
Jackson's impending arrival put the writing on the wall for the former University of Texas star -- his time with the Bills had come to a close.
Young was the first to informally expose the Bills' roster decision. At 10:38 on Monday morning, Young wrote on his Twitter account:
"I want to thank the Bills organization for the opportunity and wish the organization and my teammates good luck this season".
A little under two hours later, the Bills officially sent out the word of the quarterback's release from the team. With the Bills' acquisition of Jackson and Young's release, the team is still within current roster limitations at 75 players.
Tyler Thigpen remains on the roster, despite not receiving any playing time against the Steelers on Saturday. As of last week at practice, head coach Chan Gailey reaffirmed that the plan was to have quarterback and wide receiver hybrid Brad Smith as the team's third quarterback.
Keep checking back to WGR Sports Radio 550 and WGR550.com for any new information.
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