Six
years after entering the NFL as the third player taken in the draft, Vince
Young finds himself without a team and with just a fraction of the money he
received from a contract that guaranteed him $26 million wear cheap
soccer cleats. In an increasingly caustic war of words,
attorneys have been arguing for months over whether Young is an out-of-control
spender who put himself deeply in the hole or simply a victim of inexperienced
advisers, one of whom was his own uncle. Either way, the quarterback whose
future seemed unlimited after he led Texas to a Rose Bowl wear adidas predator lz victory in 2006 is
now back home in Houston and in a tenuous financial condition. "I would
just say that Vince needs a job," said Trey Dolezal, Young's attorney,
when asked to give a general assessment of his client's finances. Young was cut
by the Buffalo Bills, his third NFL team, in August. He was trying to make the Bills
as a backup, the same role he filled with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011 wear adidas adipure 11pro. The fall has
been a dizzying one for the player who twice made the Pro Bowl with the
Tennessee Titans. Young sent out a tweet thanking the Bills and their fans
after he was released but hasn't spoken to the media since. He declined a
request to be interviewed for this story. Even in pro sports, where tales of
squandered wealth abound, Young plight is "pretty dramatic," said
Kenneth Shropshire wear nike mercurial vapor 9, a professor
at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business who has written
and lectured extensively on the business of sports. Young is suing his former
agent, Major Adams wear nike mercurial vapor 8, and a North Carolina financial
planner, Ronnie Peoples, alleging that they misappropriated $5.5 million. In
some instances, the pair forged his signature or impersonated him on the phone
or in emails, according to the lawsuit, filed in Houston in June. The suit was filed five days
after a New York
lender notified Young that a loan of nearly $1.9 million obtained in his name
during the NFL lockout in 2011 was in default. Young is now seeking to stop the
lender, Pro Player Funding LLC, from enforcing a judgment of nearly $1.7
million, claiming he wasn't involved in obtaining the loan and that the
proceeds went to Adams and Peoples. Young was the first client of a company,
(hash)1 Next Level Sports and Entertainment Inc., formed by Adams, a Houston criminal defense
attorney, and the quarterback's uncle, Keith Young, a former middle school
teacher. Young's problem was "he was just very young ... and allowing
these people to have too much control over his life and his name," Dolezal
wear adidas f50 adizero trx said. That
notion is vigorously disputed by attorneys for Adams and Peoples, who say Young
has nobody to blame but himself. "This is a person scrambling helplessly
and pointing in all directions to blame others to get out of debt,' said
Charles Peckham, Adams' attorney. Adams twice wrote checks to himself from Young's
accounts, but both times were out of necessity, including once when the agent
was required to use personal funds to charter a plane for the quarterback after
he missed a team flight, Peckham wear nike ctr360 maestri ii elite said.
Peoples has filed a countersuit in which he castigates Young for allowing his
uncle to serve as his business manager despite having no expertise in that
field. Peoples claims in the countersuit that every decision he made was
approved by Keith Young. And he calls Vince Young's unwillingness to accept
responsibility 'a common occurrence ... as (former Titans coach) Jeff Fisher,
(Texas coach)
Mack Brown, numerous NFL executives, coaches, teammates, scouts, girlfriends
and illegitimate children will attest." Peoples' attorney, David Chaumette
wear nike total 90 laser iv kl said he has
documents to support the strongly-worded filing. "You'll find there was a
lot of money being spent in a bunch of different directions," Chaumette
said. A working phone number for Keith Young could not be located. Court
records do not show that he has an attorney. According to public records, Vince
Young was one of at least 10 NFL players who turned to Pro Player Funding for
cash during the lockout. Loan documents show he borrowed the $1.9 million at 20
percent interest, with $619,122 in interest paid up front, and agreed that a
judgment could be entered if he missed a payment. Young authorized $1 million
in payments to Pro Player directly from his Eagles salary during the 2011
season, and his accountant was working this year to have a similar arrangement
with the Bills, according to court records. However, when a payment due in May
was never made, the loan went into default. In challenging the loan's validity,
Young claims he didn't 'knowingly execute' any of the loan documents.
Anything he signed was 'without the corresponding documents attached and
without knowledge as to what the signatures pages referred,' one of his court
filings states. Pro Player wear adidas adipower predator says its
case is supported by the fact that Young's signatures were notarized and that
emails show he was involved in making sure the lender received repayment
directly from the Eagles. "Call me if this is not 100 percent clear,'
Young's accountant wrote him in August 2011 in an email explaining the
arrangement. 'We want to make certain you know exactly what is going on at all
times, especially when you're signing your name to something." Young also
contends that Pro Player efforts to serve him and the Bills with legal papers
during training camp, which included a threat to contact the local sheriff,
'played a role' in the Bills' decision to release him. Bills coach Chan
Gailey wear wear nike mercurial vapor superfly iii
declined comment when asked if Young's off-the-field issues had anything to do
with his release.