Vince Young Cut by Packers

After releasing backup quarterback Graham Harrell last week, the Green Bay Packers seemed to be planning on making Vince Young – whom they signed in early August – their second-string option behind Aaron Rodgers. We even heard that the Packers were impressed with his preseason play, but Young’s status with the team took a surprise turn over the weekend as the club continued to trim its roster down for the beginning of the regular season.

According to ESPN.com, instead of making Young the No. 2 QB on the depth chart, the Packers cut him from the team entirely on Saturday. Young confirmed the team’s decision on Twitter over the weekend, writing:

Thanks to the @packers for the opportunity great organization great team wonderful fans good luck this season.

Despite joining the team late, Young appeared in all four of Green Bay’s preseason games and seemed to impress its coaches with his play in the first three. However, in the Pack’s final warm-up contest against Kansas City on Thursday, Young completed just 14 of 30 throws for 144 yards without a touchdown. Young also fumbled the ball twice and failed to lead the team on a touchdown drive.

After releasing Young and Harrell, the Packers are left with B.J. Coleman as their lone backup quarterback. Coleman is the team’s second option for now, but considering he’s spent his entire career on the practice squad and has never appeared in a preseason or regular season game, it’s highly likely that the Packers will look to add another QB in the coming week before the season begins.

Since dealing Matt Flynn to Seattle in 2012, the Packers haven’t had a reliable backup to Rodgers and fortunately for them, they haven’t needed one. But if he were to go down with an injury early this season, Green Bay’s playoff hopes would certainly be in question.

While it’s likely that Rodgers will be fine and all will be well for the Pack in 2013, bettors should keep their backup quarterback situation in mind when making futures wagers on them this season. Considering we’ve seen so many instances of a quarterback injury negatively affecting a team’s championship chances, I’d be hesitant of putting a lot of stock in Green Bay without a decent plan B.