Pressure builds on NFL's 2006 QB class

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There is a long-held belief that a diamond, in all of its shimmering glory, is basically a hunk of coal that made good.That the pressure did its thing and in the end, the lump survived, better for it.Well, tell that to the quarterback class of the 2006 draft, especially the ones taken in the first round -- Tennessee's Vince Young, Arizona's Matt Leinart and Denver's Jay Cutler.Young was selected third overall by the Titans that year. He is now out for at least four weeks with a sprained knee, but a bigger concern for the team, and one that could keep him on the sideline far longer, is his mental state.The Titans, at the behest of some of Young's friends and family, had the police searching for the quarterback Monday night. His mother then said publicly Tuesday her son has considered walking away from football.And those close to him say the criticism, the occasional boos and the scrutiny that comes with the job have gotten to him, despite an 18-15 record overall as a starter and a trip to the playoffs last season. In short, the pressure of a high-profile job in an age when people have cameras in their cell phones -- as a not-so-flattering picture of a shirtless Young at a party that surfaced earlier this year would attest -- the Internet and all the commentary the cable-ready nation can muster, has started to affect him."It's always an issue for a quarterback in this league, especially for the No. 3 pick like he was," Cutler said. "Franchise on his back, but the pressure's going to be there whether he wants it or not, so you try to find a way to deal with it."Leinart, with all of 16 starts to his credit, lost his job this year in training camp. The Cardinals, looking to win right now, benched Leinart in favor of 37-year-old Kurt Warner just days after Leinart threw for 177 yards in a quarter against the Broncos in preseason.In the time since the Cardinals picked him 10th overall, Leinart has publicly spoken about being under the microscope "all the time" and bristled as his public life has been questioned when compared with what he had done on the field.Some of that questioning was even done by his own coach, Ken Whisenhunt.Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll, who was Leinart's college coach, went as far as to go on a national radio show in recent weeks and say that Leinart likely wouldn't react well if told he had to win a starting position, that Leinart would have to be told the position was his before he could play his best.All the while both Young and Leinart now appear to have been swallowed by a 24-7 media world, with the almost countless tentacles of the electronic age reaching into their affairs."It is different -- it's always been a high-pressure position," Chargers coach Norv Turner said. "The biggest thing (now) is media exposure, more people will see it, obviously. Long ago, it wasn't every play seen by every viewer. During the week, before the games, after the games, the guys are being criticized now for throwing an interception. They're being criticized at times by guys who act like they never threw one in their life. If you go back and look at those old tapes, they did."Then there's Cutler. He, too, lives the fishbowl life of a quarterback in a football-mad city, one waiting for the next hero with a big arm to lead the team into the Super Bowl.He has said all of the attention was an adjustment for him, even before he became a starter 11 games into his rookie season.But Cutler didn't win Rookie of the Year, like Young did, wasn't on the cover of the Madden video game, like Young was.He didn't do national advertising spots like Leinart did, didn't rub shoulders with the rich and famous, wasn't a regular smile guy for the celebrity shutterbugs.No, Cutler has simply advanced his game much more. And of the three, he is also the only one who performs his job in the shadow of a Hall of Fame legend (John Elway) who still lives in the same city and still has his pictures on the wall of the team's complex.And unlike the two quarterbacks selected in front of him, in that time he has found a swagger that works for him. A laid-back confidence in the way he deals with his teammates, two offseasons worth of work on his mechanics to go with the ability to shake off a mistake and keep slinging the ball."It's a good trait to have," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said in the preseason, before Young's travails became public. "Because there are going to be times when things don't go your way -- there always is. It's the nature of the business, and you need a thick skin to handle it. Some guys can't take the pressure. Some guys can. It's the guys who find a way of dealing with it that have success."(Contact Jeff Legwold of the Rocky Mountain News at legwoldj(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)