For the second time this season, Lions wide receiver Titus Young was disciplined for what is only being described as ‘bad behavior’.
According to ProFootballTalk.com, Young was sent home upon arriving at the Lions’ Allen Park training facility Monday morning. He’s expected to be out of practice for the next week and will not play in Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day game against the Houston Texans from Ford Field.
Although it’s not clear exactly what triggered Young’s suspension, Schwartz did mention that his (Young’s) behavior was affecting the team negatively and that the confrontation between wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan was a result of Young’s selfishness. That confrontation took place after a Gosder Cherilus false start penalty that was a result of Young being lined up incorrectly forcing quarterback Matthew Stafford to yell in his direction confusing Cherilus on the play call.
“It’s disappointing because this is ground that we’ve already covered and I thought we would be past this, but we haven’t been,” Schwartz said. “His behavior on Sunday was unacceptable and it hurt the team, particularly on offense, and it was a distraction and we’re going to eliminate that distraction particularly this week.”
Earlier in the season, Young was again sent home after sucker punching safety Louis Delmas and was benched for much of the second half last December in a Sunday night game against New Orleans for shoving the ball in a defenders face.
But Young’s behavior problems did start upon being drafted by the Lions.
During his time with Boise State, Young was benched for most of his sophomore season for fighting with his teammates.
From here though you have ask yourself has Titus Young played his last game as a Lion and is he even worth the trouble in a year that quickly soured and has pretty much gone down the toilet?
No one thought Titus Young would see a 2nd contract with the Lions before Sunday. Now it's hard to see the relationsh http://t.co/4Y6s0a5n
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) November 20, 2012
I guess it’s certainly plausible that Young has played his last game with Detroit but it seems like head coach Jim Schwartz is going to let Young determine whether or not he wants to come back. As far as if he’s worth the trouble the simple answer to that is absolutely not. The Lions have seen their fair share diva wide-outs that had an attitude and ego that greatly overshadowed what they did on the field. I’m sure we can all remember Charles Rogers’ infatuation with blazing up, Mike Williams’ work ethic and Roy Williams well… being Roy Williams. And I’m not even saying Titus Young is bad he’s just NOT that good. In fact he’s been much better than either one of those three former Lions I just mentioned but when you look at what this team already has at the position, namely the best receiver in the game in Calvin Johnson, then the leash for Young isn’t and shouldn’t be that long.
It seems like the Lions have a capable replacement in Ryan Broyles (which still doesn’t make up for where they took him in the draft, not by a long shot) with that third spot being filled by Mike Thomas. Because of this if it ends up coming to the Lions having to severe ties with Young, they in no way should look back.